Jack Morris, the team announcer for the Detroit Tigers, has been suspended and put on leave after using a racist mock Asian accent during a Tigers at Los Angeles Angels game.
Morris's mock accent was directed specifically at Shohei Ohtani, a Japanese player and the pitcher for the Angels.
The moment, called "deeply disappointing" by the Tigers' team management, will force Morris to undergo bias training before he returns to his position.
Detroit #Tigers broadcaster Jack Morris indefinitely suspendedpic.twitter.com/UTOYoOLcos— Bob Nightengale (@Bob Nightengale) 1629312861
pic.twitter.com/jCW7lmP5TB— Miguel Cabrera\u2019s Bat (@Miguel Cabrera\u2019s Bat) 1629313083
Good. Never let him back in the booth— RIP Lamonte Wade Jr.s Mustache (@RIP Lamonte Wade Jr.s Mustache) 1629315249
Well sure looks like it\u2019s time for the bi-annual firing in the @Tigers TV booth as Jack Morris 1) does some kind of mocking Asian accent while describing Ohtani; and 2) issues a pathetic \u201csorry if YOU were offended\u201d non-apology apology #HitTheRoadJackpic.twitter.com/qwWk0pjKoG— Keith Olbermann (@Keith Olbermann) 1629261133
A reminder:pic.twitter.com/BKhGjyGHDh— Keith Olbermann (@Keith Olbermann) 1629290816
The apology Morris issued as well left something to be desired.
"I sincerely apologize if I offended anybody," he said, before referring to Shohei Ohtani as "Jose."
\u201cI did not intend for any offensive thing and I apologize if I did.\u201d So he\u2019s not sure if he intended to offend? Dude just kept digging a hole deeper and deeper and made it less and less clear what he was apologizing for.— Adam Perry (@Adam Perry) 1629264835
Ernie Harwell turned in his grave last night. The Tigers fired their TV announcers for a fistfight in the booth. Morris gots to go.— Ivey McClelland(she/her)\ud83d\ude37\ud83d\ude37\ud83d\ude37 (@Ivey McClelland(she/her)\ud83d\ude37\ud83d\ude37\ud83d\ude37) 1629293754
We once had the likes of Ernie Harwell and George Kell announcing our games in Detroit. That glorious time seems so very long ago now.— Just Plain Mike (@Just Plain Mike) 1629276552
Unbelievable. How can somebody on television STILL do this kind of thing? After all that\u2019s happened? In 2021?— Dan Kelly (@Dan Kelly) 1629261268
Some people are defending him by saying he was doing an Elmer Fudd accent but I think it is pretty obvious what he was doing.. Not a good look..— Sitaraman (@Sitaraman) 1629293069
Morris, an ex-baseball pitcher himself, once told a woman, Jennifer Frey, who had been assigned to interview him in the locker room, that he didn't "talk to women when I'm naked unless they're on top of me or I'm on top of them."
When Frey complained to the Miami Herald, who gave her the assignment, the Tigers said that the paper had a "lack of common sense" for assigning a woman to the interview.
The guy I was just making fun of is someone I have the utmost respect for. Sure you do Jack!— harlow (@harlow) 1629262090
He no longer does Twins broadcasts, thankfully. I began calling him Grandpa Jack because he whined all the time about how the game is played now and back in my day something something non-stop.— Arron Meyer-Razon (@Arron Meyer-Razon) 1629291999
The Tigers haven't had a good announcing team since George Kell and Al Kaline were in the TV booth and Ernie Harwell was on the radio.— Joe (@Joe) 1629269486
He must have tipped back an extra six or so drinks tonight more than his usual amount on air— Darkwing Gray Duck (@Darkwing Gray Duck) 1629261549
Honestly at first I thought he did a crappy Elmer Fudd impersonation. \n\nI was wrong.pic.twitter.com/5SyIN6MBwx— Dr. Rick (@Dr. Rick) 1629291329
Morris, who was inducted into the Hall Of Fame in 2018, is only on his second regular stint of broadcasting for the Tigers.
Ice is thin.
