What do you think?
AP)
ESPN broadcaster Bob Griese has been suspended one week for a remark he made about NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya. ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz says Griese will not be working a game this week.Krulewitz says ESPN has spoken to Griese and "he understands the comment was inappropriate."
During ESPN's broadcast of the Minnesota-Ohio State game Saturday, a graphic was shown listing the top five drivers in NASCAR's points race. Fellow analyst Chris Spielman asked where was Montoya, who is Colombian. Griese replied he was "out having a taco."
He has twice apologized on air for the remark.
Montoya is declining to comment on Griese's suspension. He brushed off the remark Sunday, and said he'd never heard of Griese.
Was ESPN correct in suspending Mr. Griese or do you think this is political correctness gone too far?
posted by Mr. Carlisle at 3:03 PM
15 Comments:
i think that is ridiculous that he should be suspended of that. why does everything have to be so politically correct now days? who cares it was a joke, and he laughed about it. if it was supposed to be mean then he would have been serious about it. should all the press who made fun of mark sanchez eating a hotdog get suspended to? or is that ok because it doesnt represent his ethnic background.
3:27 PM
I think that his suspension is ridiculous. Its not like he made a racist remark about Juan Pablo Montoya. What's so bad about saying that someone had a taco? There’s nothing wrong with that. ESPN is going a bit overboard with this situation.
5:53 PM
Good God, it was a joke. He apologized. By announcing his suspension, they're making a huge deal out of it.
6:27 PM
This punishment is unreasonable. This guy just made a simple joke and even though it could offend someone it was just a simple mistake. He actually apologized if his comment caused any discomfort at all, which I don't think it did. ESPN is just taking this out of proportion.
6:59 PM
I think ESPN is the offensive one. They are saying that it's inappropriate to joke about someone's ethnicity. It's not racist or anything. It's a joke. They're saying that any joke relating to a race is not ok. It just seems odd to me that they think that its bad to joke about different heritages. We're all people. We all joke.
7:11 PM
i like jeff's point. and it is going too far because i think it was common decency to apologize but suspension shouldn't be used in this case. this whole "politically correct" thing is be interpreted way too tightly and literately. hm, i am beginning to sound like hamilton with the consititution.
7:33 PM
I like how Montoyan isn't even Mexican...
Yes, I do still check this blog once and a while.
8:12 PM
Okay, I'll play Devil's Advocate here. What if the the ESPN analyst said an African American athlete was out "eating some fried chicken and watermelon"? Is that more or less offensive than the "taco" comment?
8:13 PM
I hate this stupid political correctness stuff, it's so annoying and unnecessary. Being politically correct is just danceing around words that scare you, they obviously don't scare this guy so why should he be punnished for beeing fearless? I would even go so far to say that ESPN is being racist for assuming that sombody with a spanish sounding name would be from Mexico where they eat tacos.
8:28 PM
Go Brett!
8:56 PM
I think that it is completely out of order and way over the top by suspending or having any consequence against him. He meant it as a joke as he laughed and wasn't trying to be offensive or rasis! He apologized too!!
6:14 PM
People make a living off of jokes and remarks like that...ex: Dave Chapelle, Carlos Mencia, Blue Collar Comedy, etc. This isnt racist its humor and people who take it too seriously just dont understand the concept of a funny stereotype. Its one thing to make a joke about a latino being deported or a black person being a slave.....but to take a remark about someone eating a taco, because they have a mexican name, and suspend someone for it is blowing it out of proportion and trying to hard to protect the name of a company.
7:20 PM
Connecting to what Rimma (it was just a joke.) but more of what Rahul said, on the cruise I went on this summer, there was a comedian that insulted basically everyone it the audience and the cruise staff. One of his jokes was about how there weren't a lot of African Americans on the cruise because they "didn't have such great memories on boats before". It was just a joke for the entertainment of others. I'm sure he has some haters, but for the most part, he's only trying to be funny/make a living. By suspending Bob Griese for what he says is only making the situation worse. If you don't want to attract attention to something, make it go unnoticed. If you don't want to attract attention to yourself, become a wallflower. Simple as that.
7:45 PM
I think that him getting suspended is quite harsh for a little comment like that. I don't think that he intended any harm by saying that, he just said it as a joke without thinking about what it ment. It still is slightly racist, but it isn't bad enough to earn a suspension, especially because he apologized later in the game. I think that the suspension just draws more attention to something that wouldn't have been a big deal at all.
9:58 PM
I think the punishment takes the situation out of hand but still, that joke was of some serious bad taste. Besides it being to whatever degree racist, it was by no means a funny joke to begin with.
9:33 PM
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