We've been saying this a lot lately, but just when you thought the political climate in this country couldn't get any more wacky ESPN has to go and pull an Asian-American announcer, who just happens to be named Robert Lee, off the William and Mary vs. University of Virginia college football game because of concerns they might create a mass-triggering of America's snowflakes.
Is this even real life anymore? So the fragile millennial culture now demands that you should be thrown in jail if you call them by the wrong pronoun but it's totally fine if their insecurities literally derail a person's career because they refuse to be 'assaulted' by the name his parents happened to give him?
Outkick the Coverage broke the story last night with this summary:
In a story that seems made for The Onion, but is actually true, according to multiple Outkick fans inside ESPN MSESPN decided to pull an Asian college football announcer named Robert Lee off the William and Mary at University of Virginia college football game because they were concerned that having an ASIAN FOOTBALL ANNOUNCER NAMED ROBERT LEE would be offensive to some viewers.
Did I mention that Robert Lee is Asian?
Is this even real life anymore? This might even be worse than MSESPN apologizing for the fantasy football slave draft a couple of weeks ago.
To avoid offending left wing idiots Robert Lee, the Asian college football announcer, not the Confederate General who died in 1870 and shares a name with him, was switched to the Youngstown State at Pittsburgh game and Dave Weekley will now call the William and Mary at University of Virginia game.
Meanwhile, ESPN issued the following statement:
“We collectively made the decision with Robert to switch games as the tragic events in Charlottesville were unfolding, simply because of the coincidence of his name. 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.”
Not surprisingly, ESPN has been mercilessly mocked on social media for their truly moronic decision as #RobertLee quickly shot to the top of Twitter's trending board.
Irony/??r?n?/noun
1. Punishing an Asian-American for his last name out of fear of racism.#RobertLee
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) August 23, 2017
Just to clarify, the Asian sports announcer named Robert Lee is NOT the General of the Confederate Army. Get it together #espn #Robertlee
— Joni (@jonifabulous) August 23, 2017
Rare photo of #RobertLee announcing Confederates vs Union game pic.twitter.com/lJLRalDTt1
— John Davis (@TheFoundingSon) August 23, 2017
Of course, ESPN may be a little sensitive to race issues after being blasted all last week for hosting a fantasy football auction that many people likened to a slave auction...