Friday, December 14, 2012

ESPN suspends radio hosts for cracks about transgender basketball player

Steve Czaban and Andy Pollin, ESPN radio hosts based in Washington, D.C., have been suspended by the network for derogatory comments made about transgender college basketball player Gabrielle Ludwig on their radio show.

Ludwig, the 6-foot-6, 50-year-old basketball player, made headlines last week when she returned to play college basketball as a post-op transsexual. She now plays for Mission College in Santa Clara, CA. and last played college ball as a male named Robert Ludwig in 1980.

Czaban and Pollin discussed the fairness of Ludwig's eligibility in women's sports before referring to Ludwig as "he/she" before finally agreeing on "it" on their show last Thursday.

"That whole gender-bender thing, you know, whatever you've got to do to scratch that inner itch and quell those inner demons, that's fine," said one of the duo. "But don't go playing sports then.  And don't go playing sports saying, 'but I've got the rights of everyone else.'"

"How does this work?  You lose testicles and gain eligibility?" one host asks the other in the video below.



Gay rights groups called for the suspension of the two radio jocks and they got their wish.  On Wednesday, in a statement released through Outsports, ESPN said the pair had been removed from the air with this apology:

"The two are not employees of ESPN and made the comments on an affiliated radio station that controls its own local content.  The offensive commentary goes completely against ESPN's company culture and values.  We have expressed our significant dissatisfaction to the station's management."





Ludwig has been called courageous for standing up in the face of sports prejudice, while the two radio hosts walked that slippery slope of shock jock radio and fell spectacularly.



1 comment:

  1. Quite the dainty flower.
    Cutting off the junk doesn't make him a girl.

    ReplyDelete