ESPN has decided to remove play-by-play announcer Robert Lee from a University of Virginia football game assignment due to the resemblance of his name to Confederate general Robert E. Lee.
As the company explained in an official statement on Tuesday, via Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated, the move was in response to the recent events in Charlottesville:
Richard Deitsch @richarddeitschHere's the statement from ESPN PR:
ESPN's Keri Potts noted that Lee wasn't forced to change assignments, but he felt more comfortable making the move, per Deitsch.
On Wednesday, an ESPN executive emailed Yashar Ali of New York, detailing the decision to move Lee off of the game:
Yashar Ali 🐘 @yasharJust received this email from an ESPN executive re the Robert Lee controversy.
The University of Virginia was the home to a white nationalist rally Aug. 12, which was followed by counter-protests and eventually riots, resulting in three deaths and numerous injuries, per CNN.
A statue of Robert E. Lee was the focal point of the original protest with demonstrators opposing plans to remove the monument.
Still, ESPN's decision was met with criticism on social media (warning: NSFW language):
Lisa Horne @LisaHorneRobert Lee is an Asian broadcaster for ESPN. He got pulled from UVA game because his name might offend people.... this is real life people.
Mike Vaccaro @MikeVaccIn an era of rampant stupidity, ESPN taking an Asian announcer named Robert Lee off a Virginia football game may be the dumbest idea ever.
Jason Whitlock @WhitlockJasonI'm sitting here blown away about the ESPN Robert Lee story. You can't make this shit up. Ron Burgundy is running ESPN.
According to Dan Wolken of USA Today, however, the team was afraid of possible backlash from the internet in the first major broadcast for a young announcer.
In any case, Lee will likely have plenty of opportunities to work in a normal atmosphere as his career progresses.
