The woman was offended and I would have been too. It's one thing, to say, "This doesn't concern you," as one professional to another, it's quite another to demean the woman by calling her a baby. But of course that's what guys want (and some women too, unfortunately) - to be treated as children at all times who need the guiding hand of the male to do anything right.)
Then when she said she wouldn't be spoken to that way, he apparently called her an ass. I suppose that's better than a 4-letter word beginning with c.
So, he was fired, and Rush apparently doesn't think it was a fireable offense. But then, he doesn't seem to think it was offensive at all. (Calling someone "dear" is not equivalent to calling someone "sweet baby." On the other hand, there is a sexual component to it, I doubt if a man, at least, a straight one, would ever call another man dear. On the other hand, I think a woman can call men and women "dear" without that sexual component being there. Anyway...)
Did the guy deserve to be fired? I don't think so. Suspended for a month - not for calling her sweet baby, but for calling her an ass after she objected to be being called a sweet baby.
Story #4: ESPN Fires Analyst for "Sweet Baby" Remark
RUSH: ESPN has fired Ron Franklin. Do you know who Ron Franklin is? He's a college football announcer, radio and TV for ESPN. He got fired for calling a female reporter "sweet baby." Not on air. They were having a conversation off air about something and she wanted to be part of the conversation, and he said something like, "Why don't you leave this to the boys, sweet baby?" And she said, "Don't speak to me that way." Her name is Jeannine Edwards. She said, "Don't speak to me that way. I don't like to be spoken to that way." He said, "Okay, then this is for us, leave us alone," and he called her a bodily orifice. A colleague reported him to ESPN. He was pulled off a couple telecasts or radio broadcasts, and then he issued an apology, but not to her personally. So Ron Franklin is gone at ESPN.
"Parting won't be sweet sorrow for the ESPN sports anchor..." He's not an "anchor;" he's a play-by-play game telecaster. He "was fired after insulting a female colleague. ESPN spokesman ... told USA Today's Game On! blog today that Ron Franklin is out after a 25-year career because of his actions toward fellow announcer Jeannine Edwards last week during bowl game preparations. 'Based on what occurred last Friday, we have ended our relationship with him,' [the spokesman] said." Franklin is 68 years old and still doing play-by-play in the ESPN booth. "Franklin issued an apology to Edwards ... for calling her 'sweet baby' and then, when she objected, amending it to" that bodily orifice word that begins with an A, which is probably worse than "sweet baby."
I remember once, folks, I was severely reprimanded for calling a co-anchor on the news in Kansas City "dear." (interruption) Yeah, I said "dear." We had a decent relationship and I called her "dear." She didn't complain; somebody else did.
Then they said, "If you say 'therefore' one more time, you're fired."
I said, "What?"
"Yeah, 'therefore' clutters the minds of the audience. You can't say 'therefore.' If you do that, you're gone."
So anyway, they said that Ron Franklin's level of contrition was not satisfactory. He wasn't sorry enough. He didn't feel so bad about it to apologize to her personally. He just issued an apology. So he's gone. I can't believe this. Sweet baby? That wasn't on the air. She's a sideline reporter. Good Lord, what does she hear down there? Anyway, that's as far as I'm gonna go with this. You know how it is with ESPN. You never know.
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