Steve Lyons, baseball announcer, fired by FOX for racially insensitive comment

So, in the spirit of Senate and Sports and to boldly follow in the footsteps of ASG, here is another sports related thread in the Senate.

Lou Piniella, a man of Hispanic heritage, was broadcasting a nationally televised playoff baseball game on FOX. Piniella had made an analogy involving the luck of finding a wallet, then used a couple of Spanish phrases. Lyons said Piniella was "hablaing Espanol" -- butchering the conjugation of the verb "to speak" -- and added, "I still can't find my wallet." Lyons was fired after the game for making racially insensitive comments. Did Piniella know he was joking at the time? Is it acceptable to joke about such things in front of a national audience?

---

[b]Piniella goes to bat for Lyons, calls FOX executives on his behalf[/b]
Cubs' new manager not offended by broadcaster's comments

CHICAGO -- Lou Piniella said he called FOX TV executives on behalf of Steve Lyons, who was fired for making insensitive comments on the air during Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.

Piniella had made an analogy involving the luck of finding a wallet, then used a couple of Spanish phrases. Lyons said Piniella was "hablaing Espanol" -- butchering the conjugation of the verb "to speak" -- and added, "I still can't find my wallet."

Piniella, named the Chicago Cubs' new manager on Tuesday, said he wasn't offended.

"There isn't a racist bone in his body, not one," Piniella said of Lyons. "I know the guy personally. He was kidding with me. It was an unfortunate thing. None of it was intended, believe me.

"He's talented at what he does," Piniella said. "I recognize that after being in the booth with him."

Piniella said being in the broadcast booth last season has taught him a lesson, although he flubbed it on Tuesday. During his introductory news conference, Piniella was asked how he would improve the Cubs' on-base percentage.

"My philosophy is to get eight midgets up there who walk all the time," he said.

Later, Piniella apologized for the comment, saying he didn't mean to offend anyone and the reference was linked to 3-foot-7-inch Eddie Gaedel, who drew a walk in his only career plate appearance for the St. Louis Browns in 1951.

"You've got to be careful up there," Piniella said. "You've got to be careful with what you say. It's a very sensitive world."


[hr]

OMG should Piniella be fired because he made an insensitive comment about midgets? I think that network executives are too triggerhappy to fire people who say one wrong thing because it could cost them viewership. Piniella doesn't think Lyons was being racist, just making a joke. What do you think?

 

Well, first of all.... I'm not sure if it even counts as racist, as we're talking about language, not race. Its not as though he made the comment referring to spanish just because Piniella was hispanic, Piniella brought up Spanish himself by using it.
Second... um... honestly, can someone explain where the racial insensitivity was? As near as I read it, it was more just questioning the use of Spanish phrases, it seemed.

 

I believe the racist part had to do more with the "I still can't find my wallet" part of the comment. Thus, implying that a person(of possibly Hispanic heritage) stole it.

 

Isn't this the same Lyons that was warned about making insensitive comments about a Jewish player? (I'm remembering that this was 2-3 years ago?) Wasn't he put on some sort of "broadcasting probation over that incident?" If that's the case, then this wouldn't represent an isolated joke.

Perhaps Lyons needs to think about what he says on the air?

 

Well, the wallet thing wasn't his thing to have brought up, though. That in general just seems like a stretch

 

Yeah, he's got a history of making what is percieved as "racially insensitive" comments, whether he intends them to come out that way or not. He's been warned in the past, and based on that, should have always been on his best behavior.

Still, I think a suspension would have been more appropriate. Sometimes it seems like viewers watch broadcasts, and just look for things to gripe about.


Now, that moron in Miami that was broadcasting during the Hurricane game, during that brawl.....he deserved to get fired.

 

As I understand it, he has also made some homophobic comments as well. This isn't being "trigger happy" as someone referred to it. There is a history of insensitivity toward minorities with this guy. Exactly how many strikes is he supposed to get?

 

Well, apparently he'd run out of second chances. I hadn't heard about homosexual comments, but it doesn't really surprise me. He doesn't really come off as someone who is truely predudice at heart, he probably just doesn't think how some of the jokes/comments might hurt people's feelings before he speaks. Obviously, the network had had enough.

 

This is just stupid. Anyboyd who knows or listens to Steve Lyons (by the way, did you know he played all 9 positions in one game when he was a player?) knows he's a jokester. Piniella WAS hablaing espanol at the time, and Steve was poking fun at the obvious...that Piniella had found a wallet, and Steve's is gone.

People are too quick to pull the trigger now a days.

(Awaits Suzuki-Akira's remarks about my being racist)...

 

I think people are a little confused about why he was fired. Fox Sports didn't say they fired him for being racist. They fired him for making comments they thought were inappropriate. It doesn't seem to be about his views, but his poor choices in commentating - which is the job they paid him for.

For example: He once made a disparging reference about a man in the stadium with a digital camera plastered to his face. Later, it was revealed that the guy was legally blind and wearing special glasses to see the game. He wasn't being racist - he was being an ill-informed idiot blabbering off at the mouth.


So tell me, in a business where audience appeal is everything to your success, is it a wise decision to keep someone working for you who makes half-cocked observations that could potentially drive off parts of your viewing audience?

If this last gaff on his part was an isolated incident, firing him would have been too harsh. Considering his history, I don't find it too appalling at all.

 

The only way he wouldn't have been fired is if he said something insensitive about a white christian male.

 

I find it incredibly ironic that nobody made a fuss about it (to the media) and that FOX had a problem with his comments. Since when was FOX so concerned about "offensive" (I put them in quotation marks, because Lyons comments weren't) comments?

 

I would imagine that Fox had plenty of people call in and complain, Tunck.

 

Yeah, but you usually hear about that, it always a part of the story.

 

What ever happened to Wolf Blitzer during Hurricane Katrina, stating that the African Americans who lost their home were "So Poor, and so Black..." ?

 

He was promoted.

 

Lou Pinella is of Hispanic heritage? I didn't know that. Where were his ancestors from?

 

What you are is racially insecure. Which is why you often post in a manner to try to provoke such a response. Grow up - daddy's job ain't comin back, and nothing I say to you will fix that.

 

Duh! What a stupid thing to say on the air, people are always 1) over sensative and 2) over stupid (like over-easy but with nuts).

People complained when the announcers said Rodriguez stole a base, or when Garcia gets away with a pitch.

Look at that monkey run!

 

It wasnt this incident alone, which is pretty tame, its the fact that this is the fourth or fifth time that Lyons has brought race and ethnicity into his broadcast.

 

its the fact that this is the fourth or fifth time that Lyons has brought race and ethnicity into his broadcast.

So? Politicians do it constantly.

 

Lyons is not a politician - race is a legitimate political matter, not so for baseball commentary.

 

And very often lose elections because of it. Macaca, need I say more? Regardless of who said it, a context for broadcasting this kind of remark is thoughtless at best. It was a remark between two buddies, but anyone can be fired for such things should someone over hear and take offense. Lyons knew he was sitting next to a mic with a national feed, there is no excuse for it.

 

I wasn't aware Allen had lost his seat.

And I'm not just talking about racially "insensitive" remarks, but the way both dems and repubs use race as a way to divide up the voters into different groups......and they often get elected because of it.

That's far more insidious than some dope in a sport's booth mouthing off.

Yeah, that's a HUGE problem.

 

He hasn't lost it yet, but his campaign suddenly became a competition after he said that. If he doesn't lose his seat, he should have it taken away. I'm not willing to roll my eyes at any kind of racism. Campaigning or broadcasting, both equally abhorrent.