Over the weekend, Ron Franklin, a long-time college football announcer for ESPN, was pulled from the radio broadcast of Saturday’s Fiesta Bowl for sexist comments directed at sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards.
SportsbyBrooks broke the story on Sunday, but Jeanine Edwards spoke to USA Today and SI.com on Monday to clear up some of the details.
Last Friday, in the hallway of their hotel before ESPN’s TV broadcast of the Chick-fil-A Bowl, Edwards and Franklin’s broadcast-booth partner Rod Gilmore were discussing Gilmore’s wife, who was recently elected mayor of Alameda, California. According to Edwards, Franklin joined in on the conversation and said, “Listen to me sweet baby, let me tell you something …” in a condescending tone.
Edwards then told Franklin not to address her like that. To which, according to Edwards, Franklin responded, “OK, then listen to me, asshole.”
A colleague—not Edwards, as initially reported—then reported the incident to ESPN management. According to SportsbyBrooks, with Edwards and Franklin scheduled to work the Chick-fil-A Bowl together, ESPN tried to remove Franklin, but couldn’t find a replacement in time, so Franklin and Edwards did the broadcast, reportedly without incident.
The pair was also scheduled to work Saturday’s Fiesta Bowl for ESPN Radio, but ESPN replaced Franklin with Dave LaMont. In a statement to SportsbyBrooks on Sunday, ESPN Spokesman Josh Krulewitz said:
We made a late play by play change to the Fiesta Bowl radio team.
We’re not going to get into specifics other than to say adhering to our personal conduct policies and showing respect for colleagues are of the utmost importance to our company and we take them extremely seriously.
Then yesterday, through a spokesperson, Franklin told SI.com:
I said some things I shouldn’t have, and I’m sorry. I deserved to be taken off the Fiesta Bowl.
Franklin signed a two-year contract with ESPN in July. His future with the company is unknown.
However, this isn’t his first incident with a female sideline-reporter. Back in 2005, former ESPN ombudsman (the current ombudsman may or may not be in a coma) George Solomon wrote:
On October 1, according to the Chicago Tribune, sideline reporter Holly Rowe lauded Purdue defensive coordinator Brock Spack for using all three timeouts on defense despite trailing by four touchdowns late in the game. “If the coaches are giving up,” Rowe added, “what does that say to the players?” Play-by-play commentator Ron Franklin responded: “Holly, it’s not giving up. It’s 49-21, sweetheart.” Franklin’s comment, and demeaning tone, in response to Rowe’s legitimate observation was disrespectful to the audience and to a colleague. “It was an inappropriate comment, and we’ve communicated that to Ron,” said Mo Davenport, senior coordinating producer for college football. “There’s never a reason to say something so mean-spirited. Ron apologized. We dealt with it internally.”
A number of sexual harassment incidents at ESPN were documented in Mike Freeman’s ESPN: The Uncensored History. And, presumably, it will be a major topic of James Miller’s upcoming book Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN.
However, friend of the GMPM and head of Northeastern University’s Sport in Society Program, Dan Lebowitz, told the Washington Post that ESPN is more the rule than the exception:
I hate to single out ESPN for having a dysfunctional culture. It just mimics an inherent ill in our society. It’s more a reflection of overall societal behavior where women are mistreated in the workplace. Whether it’s the investment industry or the entertainment industry or something else, it’s across the board. It just seems more sensational at ESPN because they’re a very public entity.
There’s still an awful long way to go in terms of teachable moments for men to understand proper workplace conduct and to treat women as equals.
Dan Fogarty of Sports Grid recognized ESPN for acting promptly:
Credit ESPN for moving as quickly as they could on this. As James Miller, co-author of the eagerly-anticipated ESPN book Those Guys Have All the Fun pointed out on Twitter, this situation would’ve been handled quite differently 15 years ago.
But over at Jezebel, Anna North wants ESPN to adopt a stricter policy:
They could start with a zero tolerance policy for announcers who don’t respect their female colleagues. They also need to take a serious look at the culture of sports reporting and what they can do to improve it. ESPN has screwed up in the past, but now they have an opportunity to acknowledge sexism within their ranks and actually change things. For the sake of all women in sports journalism, let’s hope they do so.
However, according to SportsbyBrooks—as of Monday afternoon—Franklin was not expected to face further punishment:
From talking to ESPN sources today, I’m getting the indication that Franklin will not be further disciplined by the network.
I’ve been told that ESPN’s attitude about the situation though could change depending on how much negative media coverage Franklin’s comments to Edwards elicit.
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Suspending Franklin for one radio broadcast is a slap on the wrist. Yes, it’s great that ESPN jumped to action on this and publicly disowned Franklin’s comments, but there needs to be more than just a quick, fleeting punishment, right? As Lebowitz said, these types of comments are common in the workplace. And that makes them all too easy to ignore.
What do you guys think? Should Franklin face a larger punishment than a one-game ban? Or has he been disciplined enough? Let us know in the comments.
UPDATE: According to an Associated Press report, ESPN has fired Ron Franklin. ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys said,“Based on what occurred last Friday, we have ended our relationship with him.”
—Photo via ESPN
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Obviously, faux newz should hire him to do political commentary.
@ Ron Franklin….hey you beefcake, welcome to the world of unemployment. Hopefully buns of steel over here can take his talents to sirius radio.
So Selva, another ESPN personality, recently plagiarized a print newspaper’s report of a Lakers game on the air. He was suspended. But Franklin is fired for calling someone “sweet baby” and “asshole?” I have news for you, the plagiarizing is WAY worse than a little name-calling. People have shitty co-workers. I do, you do, we all do. But if Franklin’s conversation had taken place with another man, this would not be news. And it’s further proof that some women say they want to be treated equally, but don’t really mean it at all. I’ll cut Edwards a break because she… Read more »
WOW !! If that is the extent of what happened, it hardly sounds like a fireable offense. A tad disrespectful and sit in the corner on suspension for a game or 2 but to fire a broadcaster with such a long established tenure over what has thus far been reported is , in a Mike Tyson word, “ludicrouth” !!
The whole situation is ridiculous. Jeanne Edwards is clueless. This PC bull has gone way too far. There are certain things that most men are better at doing and certain things that most women are better at doing. Get used to it. It’s biology and it has nothing to do with discrimination or lack of respect. Special interest PC is so dumb.
The Problem here is that amid freedom of speech someone got offended? Do we know what triggered his remark to say “sweet baby” why did she have to remark about his wife being mayor? did she get in trouble? do you see where I am going with this? “Sweet Baby” she immediately pulled don’t talk to me like that? Men and woman are supposed to be equal and woman all over the place say “hun, darling, dear, sweetie” and many others to address men in the work place and immediatly clam up and “get offended” when a male uses some… Read more »
Ron Franklin is one of the best in the business!
ESPN is waaaay too pc.
ENOUGH with these know-nothing woman being announcers and sideline reporters….theyve never played the game.
Firde Edwards and get off the PC bus…Franklin rules!
Bans & punishment aren’t what are needed here; education is. Sure, sexism & harassment seminars may be interminable, but that is what Franklin needs– to be wrung through on basic education principals, like “don’t discriminate based on gender.”
If I got in trouble every time I called my co-workers “asshole” I wouldn’t just be fired, I’d be dead.
Is ESPN going to have the same response every time Franklin is condescending to a male co-worker?? Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s Franklin who is the asshole here and he sounds like a prick to work with, but it’s more than slightly ridiculous that an internal name-calling dispute is now a public debate on sexism.
I don’t think that’s the problem here, though. It’s really about the way he addressed Edwards, calling her “sweet baby.” That’s demeaning to Edwards and a bit sexist, no?
There is a world of difference between calling someone an asshole (because they are either being an asshole or because you are being an asshole) & calling someone “sweet baby” (because they are a woman). The important difference here is discrimination & prejudice. He didn’t call her an asshole until she said she wouldn’t tolerate being degraded.
degraded? really? is that what its called when a woman says honey?, sweetie? darling? dear? Discrimination? did he say “you shouldn’t be working here sweet baby?” Whats important here is what triggered him to get upset to begin with? What did she say about his wife that upset him? and that has yet to be brought to light. “sweet baby” wasn’t used to say hello, he was already upset. Why was that ok for her do? WHERE IS HER APOLOGY? all humans beings are equal. We have to stop with these small little childish bickering spats making the news and… Read more »
Just a note to clarify: Edwards wasn’t talking about Franklin’s wife. She was talking with Rod Gilmore about GILMORE’s wife when Franklin entered the conversation.