ESPN has ended its relationship with outgoing ESPN Radio host Colin Cowherd.
ESPN announced Friday that Cowherd will no longer appear on ESPN programs, one day after he made controversial comments about Dominican Republic-born Major League Baseball players. Cowherd was already on his way out of ESPN, but was not set to leave until next Friday according to Sports Business Journal writer John Ourand.
Cowherd’s comments, in which he called into question the intelligence of Dominican players, were heavily criticized by Major League Baseball and the MLB players’ association. He offered an explanation on Friday’s edition of his radio show, but that was apparently not enough. In a statement late Friday, ESPN said the comments “over the past two days do not reflect the values of ESPN or our employees.”
ESPN’s punishment of Cowherd — essentially a one-week suspension — was an about face from earlier in the day. The network initially said that while “[s]ome” of Cowherd’s comments were “inappropriate,” his “on-air response today addressed the importance of making sure his opinions are fact based and responsible for all people.”
Initially an amicable departure, Cowherd’s ESPN tenure now ends in much the same way as Bill Simmons‘ — abruptly and without a sign-off. Of ESPN’s three major departures this year, only Keith Olbermann was able to do a final show.
Cowherd is widely expected to join Fox Sports, though an agreement has yet to be announced.
(Fri. news from ESPN Media Zone; additional info from twitter.com/ourand_sbj; initial ESPN statement from Awful Announcing)
