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01/4 2011

Is Ron Franklin’s ESPN Dismissal Almost As Much Our Fault As His?

Posted by Dan Levy.

Ron Franklin was fired today by ESPN for the terribly rude, insensitive and misogynistic comments he made to colleague Jeannine Edwards. Here’s the quote from ESPN spokesman (and guy who some days has the worst damn job in our profession) Josh Krulewitz:

“Based on what occurred last Friday, we have ended our relationship with him.”‬

So what, exactly, occurred last Friday? From USA Today’s Game On blog:

First of all, Edwards says Franklin called her “sweet baby,” not “sweet cakes.” Second, it wasn’t Edwards that reported Franklin’s behavior to the ESPN brass. It was a colleague who did that, she says. But yes, it’s true. Edwards says Franklin did call her an “a–hole.”

Edwards says she was talking with [Rod] Gilmore about his wife being elected mayor of Alameda, California. After a few minutes, she said Franklin joined in the conversation and said, “Listen to me sweet baby, let me tell you something . . . ” with a condescending tone.

Edwards says she told Franklin not to address her like that. To which Franklin said, according to Edwards: “OK, then listen to me a-hole.”

If that’s how it happened, and there’s no reason to think otherwise considering Edwards is quoted and Franklin has since apologized, then sure, ESPN was right to suspend Franklin for his BCS radio gig and certainly the situation warranted some evaluation at a later date. But fired? After four days? There has to be more to this story (like, perhaps, it wasn’t the first time someone has complained about him). Or, maybe this situation is almost as much our fault as his.

I said almost.

Look, Franklin’s comments were terrible and I’m sure I’m not the first to assume that he got fired more for calling Edwards an asshole (note: I’m not sure if USA Today put it as a-hole of if that’s actually what Franklin said) than sweet baby, but I have to wonder if ESPN fired a guy who is one of the best on-air announcers they’ve got because of, let’s face it, Brett Favre’s penis.

Heck, it was probably Sean Salisbury’s penis that did it, but the timing of this sexual harassment couldn’t have come at a worse time for Franklin.

Think about the media landscape on which this story took place. Sports By Brooks broke the story, USA Today’s website then got the clarification and about six million others tweeted it and blogged about it and added their opinions on the situation (this included). The internet wasn’t this fast back when Salisbury was, pardon the expression, cockphoning co-workers (allegedly). Heck, the internet wasn’t this fast back when Favre was doing it.

So are we watching too closely? Look, I’m not suggesting that ESPN shouldn’t have fired Franklin for what he said — nobody can begrudge the decision whether you would have made it or not — but was he fired because of what he did or was he fired, as suggested online earlier today, because the story hasn’t gone away yet?

At this point, unless more comes out about Franklin, the story is over. ESPN, and most importantly Edwards, can move on. Franklin will surely hook on with Fox or CBS or Versus or one of the radio groups that broadcast national games of the week. Or he’ll just retire, like he had planned to back in April, and do some local stuff to keep busy.

So where does that leave us? Well, that leaves us with Daulerio baiting the national golf media into buying more penis photos, like an evil mother goldfinch dangling a worm over her hatchlings until one takes a bite.

He’s not wrong to do it, and frankly, had it been a photo of Franklin’s penis that was texted to Edwards, you’d certainly have seen the Gawker checkbook open up for that. And now that I’ve gotten that visual stuck in your head, we’ll end with this thought: if you’re famous, or almost famous, or want to be famous or get paid to announce games played and coached by people on any one of those levels of fame…say nothing, do nothing, think nothing. It will bite you in the ass.

And if someone had a photo of that, it’d be online faster than your employer can fire you.

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Posted on January 4, 2011 at 9:54PM

 

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  1. SousChefGerard
    01/4 2011

    In this heightened media landscape we live in these days, Franklin’s good old boy language is not going to slide anymore. Plus, he has a history of this with another sideline reporter Holly Rowe ON AIR with his “commentary” on her work. Once is warning. Twice is a problem. Like most alleged ESPN trouble children, the Harry Reynolds and Sean Salisbury that couldn’t recover from their actions, he’ll find some employer to retread him after an agreed upon timeout from the spotlight.

  2. Gunaxin Links
    01/4 2011

    Is Ron Franklin’s ESPN Dismissal As Much Our Fault As His?…

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