Ive heard of racial and sex discrimination in the workplaces of corporate America, but ESPN has just broken ground with the first name discrimination situation that I can think of.
In the aftermath of the Charlottesville fiasco, ESPN and Robert Lee, who was supposed to cover the University of Virginia’s college football home opener, came to a mutual agreement to give the announcer a different assignment because of his name’s similarity to Robert E. Lee.
ESPN says they feared that the announcer would be the target of memes
Post Sports on Twitter
ESPN removes a commentator from calling U-Va’s home opener. His name: Robert Lee. https://t.co/FdcAV5dbrh
Thats a pretty lame excuse and in my opinion. In once again bending in all directions, trying to be politically correct and please its diverse fan base, ESPN has created a story where there was none.
And its at the expense of a guy who cant control what his name is and has absolutely no connection to the Robert E. Lee that was an historical icon representing slavery and oppression in this country.
Sometimes doing nothing is the best thing to do. ESPN is basically discriminating against this guy because of his name. I get their reasoning, but it still seems kind of forced, unnecessary and lame.
