ESPN catches heat for televising fan's sexist sign on GameDay

Seeing outrageous and sometimes tasteless signs during ESPN College GameDay is nothing new —  but usually most the comments are directed at the opposing players or teams.

But before the Mississippi-Alabama game in Tuscaloosa Saturday, a Crimson Tide fan held up a sign outside Bryant-Denny Stadium stating “Ole Miss Girls Are Easier Than Their Out-Of-Conference Schedule.”

While offensive signs have been known to slip by GameDay censors, it’s rare for them to be promoted the way this one was. ESPN not only broadcast it on air, but also featured it in a tweet from the @CollegeGameDay account:

Just no chill. pic.twitter.com/Hn0fWwL9gF

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) September 19, 2015

And, even with a group of smiling coeds standing around the young man's sign, the sexist message didn't sit well with just about everyone else.

To be fair, when the sign was shown on-air, host Rece Davis and analyst Kirk Herbstreit condemned it, with Davis saying “I can’t condone that type of behavior” and Herbstreit adding “That is unacceptable.”

However, ESPN still made the decision to show it, and ESPN spokesperson Keri Potts told CNN they wouldn’t be deleting the tweet promoting it either, saying “Our Twitter handle looks to bring the sights and sounds of the College GameDay experience to the viewer at home and reflect how the fans on site express themselves.”

But that didn't stop the Twitter backlash that was about to ensue:

@CollegeGameDay Utterly classless and embarrassing to feature this sign. What does this say about your brand? Integrity? Views on women?

— Emily Wright (@EmilyCello) September 19, 2015

ESPN's somewhat misconstrued attempt to disassociate themselves from the sexist sign does not excuse them from the controversy. The network has editorial control on what signs are allowed near their set, what signs they show on air, and especially on what signs they elect to tweet out. They didn’t make this sign, but they did promote it and left it up for everyone to see.

The Boy's Club still rules.

Eminem gives whacked-out interview on ESPN's 'Saturday Night Football' (VIDEO)

The rarely seen Eminem appeared on ESPN's "Saturday Night Football" to offer a sneak peek of his video for new single "Berzerk" that will introduce the show every week — and might now wish he stayed in hiding.

A bugged out-looking (see GIF below) Eminem — or Marshall Mathers as he was called — appeared with announcers Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit in the booth during halftime of the Notre Dame-Michigan game. The interview got off to an awkward start when the trio discussed the making of the video — and the exchanges had Herbstreit rolling his eyes. But even hip old Brent knew that the bearded guy in the video clip was music producer extraordinaire Rick Rubin and and that knowledge seemed to put the "uncomfortable" Mathers at ease —sort of.

Musburger asked the die-hard Lions fan if the team would cover the 4 1/2-point spread against the Vikings Sunday, but the zonked rapper didn't want to "jinx" his hometown Detroit team and just said they would win.

At the end of the interview a genuinely humbled Mathers awkwardly told Musburger that he was honored to be in the same booth as the veteran sportscaster and would put him on his fantasy football announcers team along with the late Pat Summerall, John Madden and Al Michaels. He even showed Herbstreit "much respect" and told him, "You're great too."

It was all a little bizarre and surreal from the start but the spacy "8 Mile" star showed that he's a pretty knowledgeable fan of football —or at least the guys who broadcast them.