Jack Morris Suspended Indefinitely After Shohei Ohtani Comment
Regional sports network Bally Sports Detroit announced their indefinite suspension of analyst Jack Morris after he incited outrage over a racially sensitive tone.
As reported by OutKick's Matt Loede, the incident occurred during Morris' time calling the Angels and Tigers matchup on Tuesday. Leading in to the ninth inning, Morris was asked how the Tigers should plan for an upcoming at-bat from Shohei Ohtani.
"Be very, very careful," said Morris, using a questionable Asian tone that many perceived as a discriminatory act aimed at the Japanese-born Ohtani. Before the Angels All-Star reached the plate, the analyst addressed his code-switching and apologized for using the tone.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Bally Sports Detroit announced Morris' suspension on Wednesday, set for an indefinite time period. In the interim, Morris will also be assigned to bias training.
While the large part of social media was quick to attack the Hall of Fame player, a segment of listeners fell back on a clear lack of double standard applied with policing language.
The precedent set on behalf of corporations and brands that promote diversity and racial sensitivity have been swift in correcting, but applies different standards for each race.
As noted by OutKick's Clay Travis, the example made out of Morris is drastically different than the one applied to NFL receiver Devin Funchess, who was caught using an Anti-Asian slur.
Clay addresses the need for Americans to have grace in these situations rather than to condemn.
"We should judge people, but also allow them to apologize," suggested Clay, on Wednesday's episode of OutKick the Show. "We should not be trying to perpetually fire people. We should treat everybody as if they're capable of making mistakes, allow apologies to happen, and move on. Instead, the blue check bridge is obsessed with guillotining everyone. There's no grace, there's no measure of justice. ..."
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