Thom Brennaman: Moderator uses anti-gay swearword on sports broadcast

Baseball game in the USA
Anti-gay swear word: presenter thinks his microphone is off – now he’s out of his job

Thom Brennaman has been commenting on sports in the US for over 30 years. It is more than questionable whether he will continue to do so in the next few years. The 56-year-old was at a Cincinnati Reds baseball game against the Kansas City Royals during the week. After a commercial break, his employer, Fox Sports Ohio, switched back to him, but Brennaman clearly thought his microphone was still off. You can clearly hear him saying “one of the fag capitals of the world”, in English “one of the fag capitals of the world”. Which city he meant remained unclear.

After a four-second break, Brennaman continues his moderation as normal, but excerpts of his tirade immediately make the rounds on the net. During the game, the TV man turns to his viewers and what follows is perhaps the most bizarre television apology of all time. Because while Brennaman starts to say how sorry he is if he should have hurt someone with his “terrible” remark, one of the actors hits a home run down on the field. Brennaman, as a sports enthusiast, can of course not leave this unmentioned and so in the middle of his monologue about his belief and that these statements do not reflect what kind of person he is, he weaves a few sentences about the home run and announces that there are now 4: 0 stand. “I don’t know if I’ll ever put this headset on again,” he says, turning back to his real concern, apologizing to his bosses at Fox Sports and the Cincinnati Reds, for whom he has commented on numerous games in the past.

A little later he is replaced by a colleague during the game.

The Cincinnati Reds wrote in a statement that Brennaman would not comment on any more Reds games after his “terrible, homophobic remark”. A little later, his employer Fox Sports Ohio tweeted that he would be suspended immediately because of this “hateful and insulting” comment. Brennaman also loses his job as a Fox commentator for football games in the NFL.

Thom Brennaman with a detailed apology

One day after his dropout on Wednesday evening, the moderator tried to smooth things over with a detailed, written apology in the “Cincinnati Enquirer”. Nobody should ever say or feel what they have expressed, they say. In part he justifies himself for not having known how much the word he used “has its roots in hatred and violence”. He wanted to continue his education and had already found appropriate courses so that he could “better understand LGBTQ issues”.

Whether that will be enough to return to his job at some point can be very much doubted due to the numerous angry reactions to his behavior.

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