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ESPN HAS ANNOUNCED its broadcaster Robert Lee will not work the University of Virginia’s football season opener following the recent violence in the state’s city of Charlottesville over the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee.
A spokesperson for the sports broadcaster explained that Lee has been moved to the Youngstown State’s game at Pittsburgh on the ACC Network on 2 September instead.
The statement from the network said that the decision was made to switch Lee to a different game “as the tragic events in Charlottesville were unfolding, simply because of the coincidence of his name”.
The statement said:
In that moment, it felt right to all parties.
It’s a shame that this is even a topic of conversation and we regret that who calls play-by-play for a football game has become an issue.
According to his LinkedIn page, Lee started announcing games for ESPN and its other networks last September. For the past 17 years, Lee has announced men’s basketball games for Siena College in Albany. He is a Journalism graduate of Syracuse University.
Richard Deitsch, a reporter for Sports Illustrated, said on Twitter that an ESPN spokesperson told him that the company did not mandate that Lee change games. Lee was, according to Deitsch, “more comfortable not doing this assignment”.
The decision to change Lee to a different game was met with some criticism on social media.
Robert Lee is an Asian broadcaster for ESPN. He got pulled from UVA game because his name might offend people.... this is real life people.
— Lisa Horne (@LisaHorne) August 23, 2017
In an era of rampant stupidity, ESPN taking an Asian announcer named Robert Lee off a Virginia football game may be the dumbest idea ever.
— Mike Vaccaro (@MikeVacc) August 23, 2017
ESPN broadcaster named Robert Lee get pulled off UVA football game because they didn't want to offend viewers. For real. Also, he's Asian.
— Paul Charchian (@PaulCharchian) August 23, 2017
Violent clashes
Plans to remove a statue of Robert E Lee led to a protest in the University of Virginia area of Charlottesville earlier this month that attracted what is believed to be the largest group of white nationalists to come together in a decade.
Violent clashes erupted between a large gathering of white nationalists and hundreds of counter protesters.
One person was killed and 19 were injured during the protests after a vehicle drove into counter-demonstrators.
Last Thursday, thousands gathered on the campus of the University of Virginia for a candlelit vigil against hate and violence. The vigil came after the weekend of violence.
The vigil was held on the same day as a memorial service was held for Heather Heyer, the woman killed when the car ploughed into the crowd during the protests.
Last night, President Donald Trump blamed the media for the widespread condemnation of his response to the protest.
Trump opened his political rally in Phoenix with a call for unity, saying, “What happened in Charlottesville strikes at the core of America and tonight, this entire arena stands united in forceful condemnation of the thugs that perpetrated hatred and violence”.
But he quickly trained his ire on the media, shouting that he “openly called for healing unity and love” in the immediate aftermath of Charlottesville and claimed the media had misrepresented him.
With reporting by Associated Press
Ahh here, that’s just pandering to the PC, liberal, snowflakes of the highest order. Lee is a very common Asian name so the Asian-American presenter gets unfairly removed from a game because his name sounds similar to somebody who died nearly 150 years ago? What a world we live in.
@Dave Murray: Read the article. *Face palm.
@Atheos Euripides: what’s your point?
@Atheos Euripides: Lee himself has made no statement to whether it was his decision or the Networks. It was another reporter said that a Network source had said that Lee asked for the change. So unless Lee himself verifies that it was he that asked for the change we have no way of knowing if it was him or the Network that made the decision.
@Mick Jordan: him and his employer were in the discussion. His employer says it was mutual, a source says he preferred not to be on that game. Yeah, big mystery, I guess we have no way of knowing at all!
@Dave O Keeffe: So his employer decided it was in their mutual interest. Why because they were afraid of potential protests by Antifa thugs?
@Dave Murray: fun and true fact -I was doing an MBA in Dublin years ago and a classmate from China thought it would-be too confusing here to use his real Chinese name so he randomly decided to choose his name from the back of the Star Newspaper football pages and chose Robert Lee who was a Newcastle player at the time.
@Mick Jordan: which source says that? PS 74% of American domestic terror between 2007 and 2016 has been right wing, 2-3% left wing and the rest, Islamic. So you tell me which is the bigger problem. Yes 2-3% is unacceptable but antifa aren’t the bogeymen you’re trying to make them out to be
@Dave O Keeffe: Read the Story as reported above. So attacking the Police and calling for them to be murdered isn’t behaving like a terrorist?
@Mick Jordan: are you willing to admit that murder is worse than assault? None of it is good but clearly one side is overwhelmingly worse. You’re attempting to paint a distorted picture as usual.
@Dave O Keeffe: Can you point out where I have? Not in one single post on any thread have I given support to the Alt Right. Can you say the same about the Alt Left? Who was it that rioted in Phoenix last night? Who rioted in Boston 3 days ago? Who went to Charlottesville with the express intention of starting a conflict? Who was Rioting in Seattle a few months ago? Who persistently calls for the murder of Police Officers? Yet you attempt to defend them!! So if anyone is painting a distorted picture it is not I.
@Dave O Keeffe: antifa is a huge emmbaresment to the left. They cover their faces and attack people for saying things that offend them, all the while chanting ‘down with fascism’, while so stupid not seeing the irony of this. Your stats are also flawed as u are looking at incident and not damage. The body count from Islamic terrorism is higher. Also, ‘domestic terrorism’ stats are so variable it’s not used by most as it can include murder if u wanted. I recommend using more than one leftist site to get sources. They dont fit the left naritive so This is why the left tend not to use them and just attack the person.
@izzy skint: what happened to your white supremacist avatar? The Dallas shooter was ex-military and suffered ptsd. The Dallas police chief himself said the BLM protest was an opportunity, not a motive. But that fact doesn’t suit your narrative. As to those mentioning riots in Phoenix and Boston, I’ll say it again, 74% of domestic terrorism in the last 10 years has been right wing according to The Anti Defamation League. Even apartheid South Africa banned nazi gatherings. Violence is never an answer for anything, I’m just saying that context is important. Found this very interesting https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/08/21/i-warned-of-right-wing-violence-in-2009-it-caused-an-uproar-i-was-right/
@Dave O Keeffe: Again who is supporting Alt Right violence? In fact who is supporting the Alt Right at all? But it is you that is attempting to defend those that have called for the murder of Police Officers, who have a history of attacking the Police, who have a history of destroying both public and private property, who use violence and intimidation to silence anyone that holds a differing opinion to theirs.
@Mick Jordan: You seem to have swallowed the BS that the BLM called for the ‘murder of the police officers’ -they didn’t. Have you ever actually read any of their goals.If you have,can you tell us what your main issues with them are ?
@Francis Mc Carthy: Where did I mention the BLM? Antifa are on record for calling for the murder of Police Officers. There are multiple videos of them doing so. Are you another apologist for this criminal grouping?
@Mick Jordan: 74% of domestic terrorism deaths in the US were by right wing actors. Just a fact. As soon as you realise that the side you’re not attacking are actually 37 times more dangerous you’ll realise that while both sides should be admonished one side has been getting away with far more
I’d say the ex-Newcastle midfielder is glad he’s retired.
@Séamus Ó Lochlainn: Exactly what I was thinking!
@Alan M: does he occasionally do EPL punditry for fox sports?
@Dave O’Hanlon: Not any more he doesn’t!
The madness of the left needs to be called out by the media. These leftists are not liberals this must be made clear.
@John Mc Grath: The madness of the Alt-Right who only read headlines needs to be called out, it was Robert Lee’s decision, try reading the article next time instead of shrieking hysterically.
@Atheos Euripides: the fact that he even feels he has to not do it because of his name is absolute madness he is Asian for god sake. I hope you are not implying I am alt-right because you don’t agree with my point. Name calling is not a argument.
@John Mc Grath: ‘Name calling is not an argument.’ Read your first comment. *rolls eyes.
@Atheos Euripides: do you think it’s ok that a man should feel he can’t do his job because he has the same name as someone in history?
@John Mc Grath: Some chance! The media are their biggest apologists.
@John Mc Grath: liberals and lefties by definition are not the same thing. Liberals believe the rights of the individual over ride those of the state whilst lefties believe the opposite. The states doesn’t really have a left. The division is conservatism v liberalism
@John Mc Grath: That wasn’t your original point and you don’t know he felt he couldn’t do it for that reason, did you ask him or something? You’re just back-peddling furiously.
@Atheos Euripides: it is my original point this constant PC leftist nonsense which has created this atmosphere where people are now afraid their name might cause violence because it’s offensive to some, is extremely disturbing. I am not back peddling. Leftist are not liberals. Identity politics is toxic. Individualism is the way forward. Everyone you disagree with or who call out this nonsense are not Alt-right.
@John Mc Grath: There is a sea of difference between classical liberal values and those of post modernist left identity politics. In fact, the values of the old Labour party in say Britain differ substantially from today’s post modernist left who are mostly middle class university educated people who have little concern for economic inequality and instead are obsessed with hating straight white males and demanding that people believe there are 70 something genders and worrying where everyone of them goes to the bathroom.
@Atheos Euripides: “it was Robert Lee’s decision”
No it wasn’t. We all know what “mutual decision” means in this context.
@Anne Marie Devlin:
Antifa/Alt-Left the Democrats refuse to condemn their continued violence, the Democrats are not liberal.
@John Mc Grath: Not one person , no group , no organisation , has called for this action , so who exactly are you referring to ?
You couldn’t make it up. He’s Asian FFS. Also with the name Lee. Not doing the anti facist movement here much good.
@john Appleseed: you mean the fascist movement.
@Dick Durkin: well antifa are fascists. They just don’t realise it
@Michael Geraghty: Orwellian times, war is peace and all that.
@john Appleseed:
The Antifa freaks suffer from mass cognitive dissonance.
The fascist anti fascists.
@Remy: https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/adl-report-exposes-right-wing-terrorism-threat-in-the-us
Apparently a guy called Ulysses S. Grant is going to take his place.
Jesus Christ, I regret ever supporting the removal of the statue. This is absolute madness! People who get offended over a guys name, are the type of people who give the Left a bad name.
@Coner Willis: I see no reference to anyone being offended. I see a very strange decisions that seems to make no sense whatsoever.
@Coner Willis: the left give the left a bad name
@Diarmaid Mac Aonghusa: Ah, you can be sure that some busybody piped up with a complaint. Might well have been some racist complaining about an asian being allowed to commentate on a match, only it was misinterpreted. Who knows? Its America though, let nothing surprise you.
@Cathal S Byrne: Is there even a point of trying to coax a more substantial comment from you? Or like many on the right are you content with spewing thinly veined one-liners, without being prepared to explain yourself?
@Coner Willis: True, the easily offended are easily manipulated.
I support moving the statues but that’s just ridiculous.
@Guill Ire: Couldn’t agree more. Insane.
@Guill Ire: Agreed totally bizarre
@Guill Ire: His decision, not ESPN’s.
@Guill Ire: it won’t take long to remove their history.
@Guill Ire: it’s the Donald who raised the volume and the heat, not since the 1920′s has there been such an environment in the USA so this is hardly surprising
@Atheos Euripides: No, the ESPN statement states that it was a collective decision. If it was just Lee that wanted it they would have said so. They are a leftist media group loosing ratings fast.
@Guill Ire: Exactly – total lunacy that he felt he had to do something like this.
That’s my hopes of a tv career up the swanee.
Signed:
Harry Shipman.
@Grumpyoldtroll: shame, was looking forward to seeing your programme !
Welcome to the future. They say fact can be stranger then fiction. I never thought that this would apply to the works of George Orwell. It will only get worse.
I’m offended that they removed him from broadcasting
I’m offended that you didn’t read/understand the above article.
@Larry Doyle: I’m offended that you expected Maurice to read/understand the above article
@The Dunes Of Inchy: I’m offended they yo….ahh feck it we’ll be here all day.
@Roy Dowling: I am offended because the posts above me are offended!
Tenor Paul Potts better keeper a low profile for a while.
@Beachmaster: How could it be any lower than it was before you brought up his name?
Can we find a Confederate general named Jim Beglin?
The song by “the band” called “the night they drove ol dixie down” also contains a reference to robert lee. It should be immediately taken off youtube and never played on the radio again.
We cannot allow cultural references to impede the march of progressive thinking.
@Zx5vZulB: Fantastic song, if anyone touches it I will not be best pleased.
This is something out of Stalins purges
So that’s re-runs of Dukes of Hazard gone then too.
Madness, discriminatory and adds fuel to alt-right claims that culture is being erased. This is not sensitivity in a time of deep tensions, it is fanning the flames
People say theocracies are oppressive, quite rightly so, but let’s be honest here, no theocracy in history ever matched the tyranny of this Liberal dystopia we’re living through.
@Emmet Dillane: This isnt liberal it is illiberal. The term is used in the states to cover everyone from actual liberals to the radical post modernist left. There is a sea of difference between these two polar opposite belief systems.
Ruth Coppinger and co would do the very same here, America are so lucky they elected trump when they did Hillary would of ushered in the chairman mao era… No wonder she dressed like him during the campaign.
It’s a matter of time before there will be demands that any statues or memorials to the great man Martin Luther King be taken down because he was a supporter of Israel.
Without wanting to sound too dramatic but, humanity is in peril at this point.
@Emmet Dillane: Too dramatic.
I’m finally convinced that leftistism is more than just a mental disorder. It’s a dangerous cult!
@Dj: Well they have killed more people in the last century than anyone else and the start of that era is eerily similar.
I put it to that if a man making a decision about what game he will watch/work at has changed your political beliefs, you are the type of individual that would support a populist like Trump and then quickly regret that choice.
@Larry Doyle: I once had an overly obese neighbour called Larry Doyle who used to cut his hedge every Sunday morning in a pair of tight white shorts and nothing else. Unfortunately seeing your name brings back those horrid memories and I was hoping you would change it for my own peace of mind.
@Dj: Build a wall.
What a joke because of of this man name.
A country truly gone mad.
FFS this is beyond parody now
What a load of bull. Loads of Lees and Jacksons in the world. Will they now be removed from their positions because they are being painted with what???
Ah here,it’s getting a bit much now.
Really!!!!!
World’s gone completely mental….
You can’t even disagree with something these days without being labeled this or being labeled that!!!!
It was 150+years ago!!!!
Learn from history and move forward
Really is a snowflake generation…
The tyranny of opinion wins out yet again. Pc bullsh$t
Anyone who has that name is a racist.
A person’s name being the same as someone else’s should never impact their life. This all seems a bit silly. Pointless and needless. But if it’s what he wanted then I guess it’s all good, leaves a bad taste though
Why not call him Bob Lee instead? Michael Vick went to UVA, but when he got out of jail for Dog fighting, he was suddenly Mike Vick. Everyone easily forgets. Simple!
You can buy an AK47 easily but Kinder eggs are banned because the toys inside are potentially dangerous to small children
And now removing a guy because of his name, welcome to fu**ked up America!
@Gus Sheridan: He wasn’t removed, he requested it.
@Gus Sheridan: Kinder eggs are not banned for that reason. They are banned because they are a toy inside chocolate. The Kinder Joy is now sold in the states and have no chocolate.
Yes moving the guy doesn’t make sense but according to the report he agreed. Maybe he was concerned for his safety.
@Atheos Euripides:
He requested it because he knew there’d be a PC backlash and the possibility that his life might have been in danger from Antifa.
@Atheos Euripides: It doesn’t say he didn’t requested it, more like he agreed to it.
Has the world gone mad!
Stupid decision. What is he supposed to.do change his name ?. Absolute madness
All fellas called Robert should be made change their name to Leroy or sumthin an have forced sunbeds to blacken themselves up a bit
Stupid appeasement!
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