ESPN has fired one unnamed employee and suspended ESPNews anchor Max Bretos for using the term ‘chink in the armor’ in reference to an Asian-American NBA player.
ESPN announced Sunday that it has fired the employee responsible for using the aforementioned term in a headline about Friday’s Hornets/Knicks game. The headline appeared on the mobile and tablet editions of ESPN.com, with a picture of the player — Knicks guard Jeremy Lin — accompanying the headline on some versions.
In addition, ESPN has suspended Bretos for thirty days after he used the term in an interview earlier this week with MSG Network TV analyst Walt Frazier. “If there is a chink in the armor,” Bretos asked Frazier, “where can Lin improve his game?” (youtube.com, 2/19).
ESPN also divulged at an ESPN Radio commentator in New York had also used the phrase, but said commentator is not an ESPN employee.
(ESPN press release via Fang’s Bites; video of Bretos question from YouTube.com)
