When it comes to sports there’s obvious racial stereotypes we have like black men are better basketball players and better dunkers (because “white man can’t jump’) or that white men are automatically great shooters. Whether we outright acknowledge them or not we know they’re there. The problem is, you can’t acknowledge them live on-air as a sports analyst and CBS analyst Doug Gottlieb is the latest to learn that lesson. Read more after the jump.
Speaking on a panel with four African-American men, Gottlieb made his comment during a pregame segment before Marquette beat Miami, sparking criticism on Twitter that his words were inappropriate.
“I don’t know why you guys ask me, I’m just here to bring diversity to this set, give kind of the white man’s perspective,” he said during the show.
Gottlieb was still on set and unavailable for comment, but issued a statement through CBS.
“It was not a smart thing to say and I apologize,” he said.
Fellow analyst Charles Barkley stood by Gottlieb on the broadcast during a break in the games later in the night.
“I know this has nothing to do with the game; I want to say something about Doug Gottlieb,” Barkley said. “He made a joke earlier tonight and people are going crazy. All those idiots on Twitter, which I would never ever do, all you people at home who’ve got no life and are talking bad about Doug Gottlieb, get a life. It’s over with. It’s no big deal.”
I got the joke and thought it was funny but there are those who take any racial issue and blow it up no matter the context.
