ESPN President John Skipper reportedly has weighed in on the situation involving one of his company’s broadcasters, Robert Lee.
On Tuesday night, there was massive online reaction after it became known that Lee wouldn't call the Virginia-William & Mary game on Sept. 2 in Charlottesville, Va., because his name, coincidentally, was similar to that of Confederate general Robert E. Lee.
On Wednesday, CNN’s Brian Stelter passed along an internal memo from Skipper in which the president said “there was never any concern — by anyone, at any level — that Robert Lee’s name would offend anyone watching the Charlottesville game.”
Check out the full explanation below.
Reading those words, it seems like ESPN was trying to do the best thing for one of its employees, despite the criticism from Clay Travis for how the network handled the situation. Unfortunately for Lee and the company, an unwanted uproar occurred, even if it was probably the right move for Lee to change assignments for obvious reasons after the sad events on Aug. 12 in Charlottesville, Va.
This is a lesson in how a story can take on a life of its own in the 24/7 news cycle.
The post ESPN President John Skipper weighs in on Robert Lee, Charlottesville decision appeared first on SEC Country.
