It’s official: Rob Parker dropped from ESPN over his RG3 comments
From YourBlackWorld.com
ESPN commentator Rob Parker has reportedly been shown the door, and told that the network will not renew his contract. Mike Soltys, a vice president at the network, tweeted “Rob Parker’s contract expired at year end. Evaluating our needs and his work, including his recent RGIII comments, we decided not to renew.”
The sports pundit caused a great deal of controversy when he called Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III, RGIII as he is known to fans, a “cornball brother.” Parker continued, saying:
“I’ve talked to some people in Washington, D.C. Some people in [Griffin’s] press conferences. Some people I’ve known for a long time. My question, which is just a straight, honest question, is … is he a ‘brother,’ or is he a cornball ‘brother?’ He’s not really … he’s Black, but he’s not really down with the cause. He’s not one of us. He’s kind of black, but he’s not really like the guy you’d want to hang out with. I just want to find out about him. I don’t know, because I keep hearing these things. He has a white fiancé,
Rob Parker may’ve made things worse for himself with comments he made on Sunday when he spoke with WDIV-TV’s Devin Scillian.
Parker said he was ‘shocked’ that his ‘cornball’ comments were taken out of context.
“It was never to condemn the young man,” Parker told Scillian. “RGIII is a great young man with a bright future. It was more about concerns not condemning.”
Parker continued:
“It was just a conversation that’s had in the Black community when athletes, or famous entertainers or whatever, push away from their people. And that’s really what it’s about. You saw it with O.J. Simpson, and some other people, where they say, ‘Well I’m not Black, I’m O.J.’ So it’s more about that, not about RGIII and what’s going on. It’s more about this thing that we’ve battled for years and why people have pushed away from their people. It’s more about that.”
