ESPN parts ways with Colin Cowherd over comments about Dominicans
ESPN Radio host Colin Cowherd’s controversial comments about Dominican Republic baseball players on his show Thursday upset many people, perhaps none more so than Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista.
On Friday afternoon, ESPN parted ways with the former Las Vegas sportscaster, saying in a statement that “Colin Cowherd’s comments over the past two days do not reflect the values of ESPN or our employees. Colin will no longer appear on ESPN.”
After trying to clarify his comments without apologizing on his show, “The Herd,” on Friday, Cowherd did post an apology on Twitter, writing “I did not intend to offend anyone w my comments. I realize my choice of words was poor and not reflective of who I am. I am sorry.”
On Thursday’s show, Cowherd talked about the criticism the Miami Marlins have received for hiring general manager Dan Jennings, who had no prior managing experience, as their skipper after firing Mike Redmond in May.
“I mean the Marlins put a general manager in their dugout. People freaked out,’ Cowherd said. “Oh, it’s baseball! You don’t think a general manager can manage? Like, it’s impossible? The game is too complex? Like, I’ve never bought into that. Baseball is just too complex. Really? A third of the sport is from the Dominican Republic.”
Cowherd then expounded on his comments.
“The Dominican Republic has not been known in my lifetime as having world class academic abilities,” he said. “A lot of those kids come from rough backgrounds and have not had opportunities academically that other kids from other countries have. Baseball is like any sport. It’s mostly instincts. A sportswriter who covers baseball could go up to Tony La Russa and make an argument and Tony would listen and it would seem reasonable. There’s not a single NFL writer in the country who could diagram a play for Bill Belichick. You know, we get caught up in this whole ‘thinking-man’s game.’ Is it in the same family? Most peope could do it. It’s not being a concert pianist.”
Bautista, a native of the Dominican Republic, quickly called out Cowherd on Twitter.
“Dear Mr. @ESPN_Colin before i rip you a new one i would like for you to explain what u meant to say about baseball and dominicans, please,” Bautista posted.
Cowherd, who recently announced his departure from ESPN to join Fox Sports, also drew the ire of the MLB Players Association, who according to USA Today privately demanded an apology from the radio host.
On Friday’s show, Cowherd tried to clarify his comments.
“I understand that when you mention a specific country, they get offended,” he said. “I get it. I do. And for that, I feel bad. I do. But I have four reports in front of me where there are discussions of major deficiencies in the education sector at all levels. It wasn’t a shot at them. It was data. Five, seven years ago I talked about the same subject. Was I clunky? Perhaps. Did people not like my tone? I get it. Sometimes my tone stinks.
“I think when you host a radio show, just like Jon Stewart hosts a show, I think sometimes I bring up stuff that makes people cringe. I’m not saying there’s not intelligent, educated people from the Dominican Republic. I cringe at the data too.”
Before breaking things off with Cowherd, ESPN released a statement saying that the radio host’s stance does not reflect that of the network.
“Some of Colin’s comments yesterday referencing the Dominican Republic were inappropriate and do not reflect ESPN’s values of respect for all communities,” the statement said. “Colin’s on-air response today addressed the importance of making sure his opinions are fact based and responsible for all people.”
Major League Baseball also weighed in after Cowherd made his follow-up remarks.
“Major League Baseball condemns the remarks made by Colin Cowherd, which were inappropriate, offensive and completely inconsistent with the values of our game,” MLB said in a statement. “Mr. Cowherd owes our players of Dominican origin, and Dominican people generally, an apology.”
