On Tuesday evening, ESPN (AKA MSNBC with footballs) went full-on parody when they pulled an announcer named Robert Lee, an Asian man, from a game at the University of Virginia because the network thought his name, apparently too close to dead Confederate general Robert E. Lee, might offend their viewers.
For real.
Here’s Fox Sports’ Clay Travis telling Fox News’ Tucker Carlson of the unimaginable report:
The report was so unbelievable that people were only truly convinced of its authenticity once ESPN formally released a statement on the ridiculous move:
We collectively made the decision with Robert to switch games as the tragic events in Charlottesville were unfolding, simply because of the coincidence of his name. In that moment it felt right to all parties. It’s a shame that this is even a topic of conversation and we regret that who calls play-by-play for a football game has become an issue.
The internet quickly exploded with well-deserved mockery and ridicule of ESPN, which essentially discriminated against an innocent man because of his name.
We are officially beyond parody, folks.