Fox Fires [MLB Broadcaster Steve] Lyons for Insensitive Comment

[b0mbrman]

Text

Fox baseball broadcaster Steve Lyons has been fired for making a racially insensitive comment directed at colleague Lou Piniella's Hispanic heritage on the air during Game 3 of the American League championship series.

The network confirmed Saturday that Lyons was dismissed after Friday's comments. He has been replaced for the remainder of the series by Los Angeles Angels announcer Jose Mota.

"Steve Lyons has been relieved of his Fox Sports duties for making comments on air that the company found inappropriate," network spokesman Dan Bell said.

Lyons had been working in the booth for the ALCS alongside Thom Brennaman and Piniella, the No. 2 broadcast team for Fox this postseason. Lyons flew Saturday to Los Angeles, where he hoped to meet with Fox president and CEO David Hill.

"If I offended anybody, I'm truly sorry," Lyons said in a phone interview. "But my comment about Lou taking my wallet was a joke and in no way racially motivated."

In the second inning of Friday's game between Detroit and Oakland, Piniella talked about the success light-hitting A's infielder Marco Scutaro had in the first round of the playoffs. Piniella said that slugger Frank Thomas and Eric Chavez needed to contribute, comparing Scutaro's production to finding a "wallet on Friday" and hoping it happened again the next week.

Later, Piniella said the A's needed Thomas to get "en fuego" ? hot in Spanish ? because he was currently "frio" ? or cold. After Brennaman praised Piniella for being bilingual, Lyons spoke up.

Lyons said that Piniella was "hablaing Espanol" ? butchering the conjugation for the word "to speak" ? and added, "I still can't find my wallet."

"I don't understand him, and I don't want to sit too close to him now," Lyons continued.

Fox executives told Lyons after the game he had been fired.

Piniella, approached before Saturday's Game 4, declined to comment on the situation except to say: "No, he's not here today."

This was not a first-time offense for Lyons, nicknamed "Psycho" during his nine-year big league career as a utilityman that ended in 1993 with the Boston Red Sox.

Hired when Fox began broadcasting baseball in 1996, Lyons was suspended without pay in late September 2004 after his remarks about Shawn Green of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Green is Jewish and elected not to play one of the two games at San Francisco that took place during the Yom Kippur holiday.

The network apologized for Lyons' remarks at the time.

Earlier in the playoffs, while working the Mets-Dodgers NLDS, Lyons unwittingly made fun of a nearly blind fan who was wearing special glasses to see the game.

"He's got a digital camera stuck to his face," Lyons said.

He also once pulled down his pants on the field during his playing days.

Lyons, 46, was a career .252 hitter with 19 home runs and 196 RBIs for Boston, the Chicago White Sox, Atlanta and Montreal. He was a first-round draft pick by the Red Sox, 19th overall, in 1981.

That's the whole thing...

 

[NFS4]

Damn. I could kinda see repremanding the guy for making a single comment, but he just went on and on.

 

[altonb1]

I may have missed something, especially the whole context of the comment, but I don't see it as being a major issue.

What was so bad about what he said? He joked about his wallet being missing. so what?

 

[mugs]

Fuego = fire
Caliente = hot

"on hot" doesn't make any sense.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: altonb1
I may have missed something, especially the whole context of the comment, but I don't see it as being a major issue.

What was so bad about what he said? He joked about his wallet being missing. so what?

He's assuming that he "stole" it.

It'd be along the lines of saying that Lou Piniella needs to come over to his house and mow his lawn and have his wife clean his house and look after his kids.

It's playing on typical Hispanic stereotypes.

 

[her209]

I believe he is searching for the word, hablando.

 

[bennylong]

I don't get it.

 

[KLin]

Originally posted by: bennylong
I don't get it.

No surprise here.

 

[Reckoner]

People are too damn sensitive these days

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

"En Fuego" was a catch phrase on ESPN for years. What's the deal?

 

[fs5]

Originally posted by: PaulNEPats
People are too damn sensitive these days

 

[KLin]

Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
"En Fuego" was a catch phrase on ESPN for years. What's the deal?

Lyons was basically making fun of Piniella aboiut his hispanic heritage.

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: altonb1
I may have missed something, especially the whole context of the comment, but I don't see it as being a major issue.

What was so bad about what he said? He joked about his wallet being missing. so what?

He's assuming that he "stole" it.

It'd be along the lines of saying that Lou Piniella needs to come over to his house and mow his lawn and have his wife clean his house and look after his kids.

It's playing on typical Hispanic stereotypes.

I think you're inferring a little too hard...

 

[Syringer]

Pinella should've come back with "you probably left it at the Gap".

 

[chuckywang]

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: altonb1
I may have missed something, especially the whole context of the comment, but I don't see it as being a major issue.

What was so bad about what he said? He joked about his wallet being missing. so what?

He's assuming that he "stole" it.

It'd be along the lines of saying that Lou Piniella needs to come over to his house and mow his lawn and have his wife clean his house and look after his kids.

It's playing on typical Hispanic stereotypes.

Stealing is a hispanic stereotype? Really?

 

[Kenazo]

Man, I guess us Canadians just don't know all the subtleties of Hispanic/American relationships. I sure wouldn't have seen that as a racist comment.

 

[bennylong]

Originally posted by: chuckywang

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: altonb1
I may have missed something, especially the whole context of the comment, but I don't see it as being a major issue.

What was so bad about what he said? He joked about his wallet being missing. so what?

He's assuming that he "stole" it.

It'd be along the lines of saying that Lou Piniella needs to come over to his house and mow his lawn and have his wife clean his house and look after his kids.

It's playing on typical Hispanic stereotypes.

Stealing is a hispanic stereotype? Really?

According to FOX. I don't get it

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: Kenazo
Man, I guess us Canadians just don't know all the subtleties of Hispanic/American relationships. I sure wouldn't have seen that as a racist comment.

I'm an American and I don't see it either...

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: b0mbrman

Originally posted by: Kenazo
Man, I guess us Canadians just don't know all the subtleties of Hispanic/American relationships. I sure wouldn't have seen that as a racist comment.

I'm an American and I don't see it either...

From what I heard on the radio this morning, Pinella was joking about finding someone's wallet before this exchange. That is what led Lyons trying to make a joke about stealing a wallet.

I don't understand the whole context of the conversation that led up to this so I really don't know what to think about it. Really odd.

 

[Jack Ryan]

I heard it live, thought it was weird, but fire the guy for it???

Fire the guy cause he sucks as an announcer.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Jack Ryan
I heard it live, thought it was weird, but fire the guy for it???

Fire the guy cause he sucks as an announcer.

This escapade was probably but one of many and is what led to his firing.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Maybe it wasn't the 1 remark, maybe it was compiled remarks adding up to this. Then again, it's Steve Lyons, who cares. He's going nowhere but to the local realty office to apply for a gig.

 

[chambersc]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: b0mbrman

Originally posted by: Kenazo
Man, I guess us Canadians just don't know all the subtleties of Hispanic/American relationships. I sure wouldn't have seen that as a racist comment.

I'm an American and I don't see it either...

From what I heard on the radio this morning, Pinella was joking about finding someone's wallet before this exchange. That is what led Lyons trying to make a joke about stealing a wallet.

I don't understand the whole context of the conversation that led up to this so I really don't know what to think about it. Really odd.

Basically, Lyons made a comment about not wanting to sit next to the billingual person for fear that he was going to steal Lyon's wallet. He was fired appropriately.

 

[JujuFish]

Originally posted by: mugs
Fuego = fire
Caliente = hot

"on hot" doesn't make any sense.

The article didn't say fuego was hot, it said "en fuego" was hot, which is basically the meaning conveyed.

 

[isasir]

Originally posted by: Sheik Yerbouti
Maybe it wasn't the 1 remark, maybe it was compiled remarks adding up to this. Then again, it's Steve Lyons, who cares. He's going nowhere but to the local realty office to apply for a gig.

Yeah, I'm assuming it didn't help that Lyons had to apologize just last week for those comments regarding the near-blind guy at the Mets game. It made the local Daily News, so I'm sure Fox really doesn't want much more bad publicity.