Ron Franklin Fired: ESPN Axes Announcer After Sexist Comments

ESPN reportedly fired announcer Ron Franklin on Tuesday after he was pulled from the Fiesta Bowl broadcast for making sexist comments to sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards.

According to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal, an ESPN spokesman said "based on what occurred last Friday, we have ended our relationship with him."

Before Friday's Chick Fil-A Bowl, Franklin said to Edwards, "Listen to me sweet baby, let me tell you something."

After Edwards told him not to address her like that, Franklin responded by saying, "OK, then listen to me a-hole."

Franklin apologized for his remarks on Monday and said he deserved to be pulled from the Fiesta Bowl.

According to SportsByBrooks, Franklin was fired after he didn't apologize to Edwards personally.

Comments

[steven l]

08:43 PM on 01/08/2011

I think all of us men should bow down to all women and beg for forgiveness for being men.We are crude and filthy creatures which makes me wonder why they always want to be where wwe are?

[steven l]

08:46 PM on 01/08/2011

I hope you all can smell the sarcasm

[nofriendofrepublicans]

09:22 AM on 01/08/2011

Faux is looking for a partner for Juan Williams.

[p c r]

09:08 PM on 01/07/2011

He pulled the same thing in 2005 and got slapped on the wrist. Once a sexist pig, always a sexist pig. Good for ESPN.

[zg1968]

05:53 PM on 01/07/2011

Awesome.

[Kahill]

09:07 AM on 01/07/2011

I heard Joan Walsh call Pat Buchanan ‘honey’ on Hardball. To Pat’s credit, he let it slide completely!

[Veritas 1]

12:48 AM on 01/07/2011

I love how many people have referenced Franklin's previous behavior. Please tell me they are not referencing comments made to Holly Rowe about timeouts during a Purdue game. Is it sexist to call out someone's ignorance when "sweetheart" is in the sentence?

[reasonshouldrule]

11:39 PM on 01/07/2011

Yes, it is. If you want to "call out" someone's "ignorance" publicly, you need to do it with tact and respect. "Sweetheart" doesn't fit into any category of respect.

[Francois Bergeron]

07:21 AM on 01/08/2011

must agree there.

[steven l]

08:48 PM on 01/08/2011

Holly Rowe is so ignorant she doesn't deserve respect

[UnseenWorld]

12:45 AM on 01/07/2011

Someone wrote 'Insulting someone is not the same as sexually harassing them. The more accurate headline would have been "Franklin Fired After Refusing to Apologize."' Actually, while I'm against overwrought political correctness, there is a sexual aspect to a remark by a man to a woman involving the word "baby." It's a kind of reminder of the sexual difference (women seldom call men "baby" and just about never in a work context). He's a dope. Good riddance.

[oldgrendel]

08:34 PM on 01/06/2011

He has a future at FOX.

[Francois Bergeron]

04:01 PM on 01/06/2011

It's tough out there. One blowout, possibly after one of those crappy days we all get, and poof, career is over. How many sports journalists have lost their jobs by saying one stupid thing. Howard Cosell..Sean Salisbury... Rosenberg...Steve Lyons...Robert Flores...Keith Olbermann...jimmy the greek... Others?
You'd think today's journalists might have learned a thing or two from their predecessors.

[reasonshouldrule]

11:43 PM on 01/07/2011

I hear what you're saying, but it's rarely one "blowout" that kills careers. These guys start out with a disrespectful attitude toward women; most of them say inappropriate things along the way but don't suffer any consequences for it; finally, they say something that does have consequences.

[Momklok]

03:22 PM on 01/06/2011

We are reminded once again that there are plenty of misogynists to go around, in fact, I think there is one for every female on the plant.

[loudneighbor]

12:43 PM on 01/07/2011

I guess that would make every man on earth a misogynist, since women outnumber men.

Really?

[steven l]

08:19 PM on 01/08/2011

what do you call a woman who hates men? Oh I know. Momlok

[thenisaid]

01:09 PM on 01/06/2011

Fox News will take good care of him.

[scholasticus]

09:03 AM on 01/06/2011

Cheaper to fire than go through a sex harrassment lawsuit.

[joedawg88]

08:29 AM on 01/06/2011

Old, irrelevant white-guy panic condition strikes again.

[PitBull6]

01:15 PM on 01/06/2011

Newer, less relevant, feminist-paranoia wins again.

[Tyrione]

03:11 PM on 01/06/2011

Ron Franklin is a joke in sports broadcasting. He targets her because he can't target the youth movement of ex-jocks taking over the air times for fear of looking like a complete nerd who never played a damn sport.

Real classy.

[frameofmind2]

12:55 AM on 01/06/2011

Spam, flagged.

[daikon]

11:51 PM on 01/05/2011

I thought HuffPost was a progressive site, so I'm really shocked to see how many people are blaming the victim (Edwards) instead of the victimizer (Franklin).

ESPN doesn't tolerate sexual harassment, and Franklin was fully aware of that policy. ESPN had had previous compaints from another female reporter, who said she had warned Franklin, but he didn't stop. And the most recent harassment against Edwards took place during a staff meeting at which she and other reporters were busy planning coverage for the next game. Edwards asked Franklin to stop, and his response was to verbally attack her while she and other reporters were trying to do their job. A third party reported the harassment to the management, and they gave Franklin a chance to redeem himself by sincerely apologizing to Edwards. An apology was obviously in order, but Franklin refused. That meant he was telling the management that he felt free to do the same kind of harassment again. That violates company policy.

Franklin knew very well what his refusal meant, so he actually fired himself. He was not only sexist but stupid and self-destructive. So now a technically good broadcaster is gone, and people are angry. That's understandable. But the anger should be focused on Franklin himself. Don't make Edwards the scapegoat. Franklin fired himself.

[PitBull6]

01:28 PM on 01/06/2011

Where is the harassment? Where is the the quid pro quo? Where is the so-called "hostile work environment"? In almost any other context this would have been considered a work place disagreement, which happens all the time, end of story. And if the reverse had happened, I would bet almost anything she wouldn't be in trouble, much less fired.

Insulting someone is not the same as sexually harassing them. The more accurate headline would have been "Franklin Fired After Refusing to Apologize"

Every time I think we've hit the tipping point for over-the-top political correctness, some stupid crap like this happens to remind me we aren't there yet...

I agree that his pride may have been his downfall but the fact remains he probably shouldn't have been in a position to answer an ultimatum for an insult.

[Momklok]

03:25 PM on 01/06/2011

If men would learn to behave, they wouldn't loose their jobs. Sexist remarks have no place anywhere. Until men learn that women are their equals, then let them loose theri cushy jobs for being boors.

[jkkFL]

08:31 PM on 01/07/2011

Sexual harassment may be policy violation at ESPN but after so many incidents of bad boy behavior- one has to wonder how it keeps happening.
Either the HR dept makes a point of not reviewing prior employment history, or they are going out of their way to dig up every bad apple in the orchard.
Either way- there needs to be some serious staff research by ABC, ESPN and Disney to figure out the problem.