Le Batard Suspended After LeBron Billboard
AKRON (CBSMiami) – Miami television and radio host Dan Le Batard will be off the air for two days after a billboard popped up in Ohio aimed towards former Miami Heat player LeBron James.
Sometime on Wednesday the billboard was up in Akron, Ohio which said, "You're Welcome, LeBron. Love, Miami"
The giant-sized ad included photos of two Miami Heat NBA Championship rings.
ESPN removed him from the air both from his television and radio show on Thursday and Friday after they found out his radio show had purchased several billboards, according to our news partners the Miami Herald.
In a released statement, ESPN said that Le Batard's "recent stunt does not reflect ESPN's standards and brand. Additionally, we were not made aware of his plans in advance."
The billboard will be up for a month and for James' Friday homecoming celebrating his return.
'Papi' Le Batard regularly goes on his son's radio show and podcast and hasn't been shy about his disdain for James' not yet saying thank you to the people of South Florida.
On a recent show, Dan Le Batard discussed the ad, saying "We're telling him you're welcome because he hasn't said thank you to Miami."
James went on national television in 2010 to announce that he was leaving his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Miami Heat but after reaching four straight NBA Finals and winning a pair of championships, he decided to go back to the Cavs.
It's understandable that Heat fans would feel scorned after four extremely successful years that James spent in Miami.
There were no indications that James wanted to leave the Heat and all signs pointed to him remaining with the franchise that did everything possible to put championship-caliber teams on the court with LeBron.
A tweet posted on the Dan Le Batard Show twitter account shows a nice montage of photos that different people have taken of the billboard.
That escalated quickly... -Mike Ryan pic.twitter.com/TkIoOouFak
— Dan Le Batard Show (@LeBatardShow) August 7, 2014
Le Batard will return to the air on Monday.
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