ESPN pulls announcer from Virginia CFB game because he has the name of a Confederate general
By Adam Spencer
Published:
In a strange twist of events, ESPN announcer Robert Lee has been removed from his assignment in Charlottesville, where he was supposed to call an upcoming Virginia game.
Due to recent protests in Charlottesville, ESPN thought having an announcer who shares a name with a Confederate war general wasn’t the best idea.
In an announcement released on Tuesday night, the network explained the decision to switch Lee to a new game:
Here's the statement from ESPN PR: pic.twitter.com/VWuRQLwQvi
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) August 23, 2017
Lee has been with ESPN since 2016 and will continue to call games for the network, though presumably not in Charlottesville for the time being.
Broadcasting assignments are switched around by networks all the time, but this is one of the more unusual reasons for making a change.
ESPN added that Lee said he’d feel more comfortable not going to Charlottesville, and that played a role in the decision:
Company says that Lee (a young broadcaster who works for ESPN3) was more comfortable not doing this assignment.
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) August 23, 2017
What assignment Lee will now have for Week 1 remains to be seen, but it appears he’ll be calling a game somewhere that weekend.
When the Cavaliers kick off their 2017 campaign against William & Mary, the game will still be broadcast by the network, but someone other than Lee will be in the booth.
The game will kick off at 3:30 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday, Sept. 2.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
