Robert Griffin III. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
(WSCR) In the wake of his racially-charged comments directed at Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III on ESPN’s First Take, analyst Rob Parker has been suspended by the network for 30 days.
Parker made comments questioning how “black” Griffin was in an episode aired last week.
“Is he a brother, or is he a cornball brother,” Parker asked, questioning Griffin’s commitment to the black community. “… He’s not one of us.”
“I keep hearing these things. We all know he has a white fiancée. There was all this talk about he’s a Republican.”
Below is a statement from ESPN on the incident.
“ESPN has decided to suspend Rob Parker for 30 days for his comments made on last Thursday’s episode of First Take. Our review of the preparation for the show and the re-air has established that mistakes both in judgment and communication were made. As a direct result, clearly inappropriate content was aired and then re-aired without editing. Both were errors on our part.
“To address this, we have enhanced the editorial oversight of the show and have taken appropriate disciplinary measures with the personnel responsible for these failures. We will continue to discuss important issues in sports on First Take, including race. Debate is an integral part of sports and we will continue to engage in it on First Take. However, we believe what we have learned here and the steps we have taken will help us do all that better.”
