We told you yesterday about the Franklinesque saga going on in the UK with Andy Gray and Richard Keys at Sky Sports over their sexist comments aimed at female lineswoman Sian Massey. The pair were suspended for one game for their unflattering remarks, but the hammer came down on Andy Gray today as he was fired from Sky Sports after new discriminating footage was released. One clip shows him talking to a Sky sideline reporter (also suspended) and making disparaging remarks, but it’s this clip from December combined with his recent behavior that was enough to get the ax…
Wow. Clearly, this clip where he asks a female host to tuck his microphone down his pants qualifies as fireable behavior, and once it was made public there was no choice but to get rid of Gray. It’s amazing that all this on-set off-air footage was made public, but nevertheless it has caused Gray’s ouster. So far, Richard Keys has kept his job, but it remains to be seen if the international outcry over this whole episode will be enough for Sky to want to clean house. This is huge news as it was trending worldwide on Twitter today – Andy Gray is one of the most recognizable voices in sports broadcasting around the world and even here in the US from his work on Euro 2008 coverage at ESPN, FSC’s World Cup studio shows, and one of the voices of EA Sports FIFA games. At this stage in his career, it would be comparable to John Madden being fired from Sunday Night Football. This story combined with the Ron Franklin controversy should rightfully send signals to broadcasters everywhere that this kind of behavior won’t be tolerated in 2011.
***Update – That loud thud from the East you hear is the other shoe dropping. On Wednesday, Richard Keys resigned from Sky effectively ending this ordeal.
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