Robert E. Lee madness at ESPN
In today’s episode of “Has the whole world gone mad?” ESPN has pulled an Asian sportscaster, Robert Lee, from covering a University of Virginia football game.
You know, because viewers might confuse him with Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, who died in 1870. Or no, maybe with the controversial statue of Lee in Charlottesville, where one of the white nationalists protesting a plan to remove the bronze figure on horseback recently plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters.
An ESPN spokesman told the New York Times it reassigned Lee to cover a different game that day out of concern for his safety. But since there are still statues like that in many cities, we have these further words of caution for the sportscaster: Don’t stand still for too long. Or turn green. Or grow a beard. Or work for people so determined to fit in in this upside down moment.
Melinda Henneberger, mhenneberger@kcstar.com
This story was originally published August 23, 2017 at 3:07 PM with the headline "Robert E. Lee madness at ESPN."