ESPN drops Colin Cowherd after remarks about Dominicans
NEW YORK - ESPN Radio host Colin Cowherd has lost his job after controversial comments about Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic.
"Colin Cowherd's comments over the past two days do not reflect the values of ESPN or our employees," ESPN said in a statement. "Colin will no longer appear on ESPN."
Cowherd had said Thursday that he didn't believe baseball was complex, saying a third of the sport was from the Dominican Republic, which had "not been known, in my lifetime, as having, you know, world-class academic abilities."
Cowherd addressed what he called "the firestorm" on Friday's show, saying his remarks were taken out of context.
"I could've made the point without using one country, and there's all sorts of smart people from the Dominican Republic," Cowherd said. "I could've said a third of baseball's talent is being furnished from countries with economic hardships, therefore educational hurdles. For the record, I used the Dominican Republic because they've furnished baseball with so many great players."
Later Friday, Cowherd tweeted an apology:
I did not intend to offend anyone w my comments. I realize my choice of words was poor and not reflective of who I am. I am sorry.
— Colin Cowherd (@ESPN_Colin) July 24, 2015
There were 83 Dominican players on opening-day rosters, representing about 10 percent of all players in the majors.
One of them, Blue Jays star Jose Bautista, asked Cowherd on Twitter on Thursday for an explanation:
Dear Mr. @ESPN_Colin before i rip you a new one i would like for you to explain what u meant to say about baseball and dominicans, please
— Jose Bautista (@JoeyBats19) July 23, 2015
Major League Baseball said in a statement Friday it "condemns the remarks," calling them "inappropriate, offensive and completely inconsistent with the values of our game."
According to the MLB, "Mr. Cowherd owes our players of Dominican origin, and Dominican people generally, an apology."
In a statement about Cowherd's remarks, players' union head Tony Clark said "to make an ignorant point by denigrating the intelligence of our Dominican members was not 'clunky' -- it was offensive."
ESPN had earlier said Cowherd was leaving the network amid reports he's going to Fox Sports 1.