The LA Clippers have suspended play-by-play announcer Ralph Lawler and color analyst Michael Smith for one game.
Why? Here’s the transcript of the conversation between Lawler and Smith, which occurred late in the game, was printed on the Los Angeles Times’ Web site:
Smith: “Look who’s in.”
Lawler: “Hamed Haddadi. Where’s he from?”
Smith: “He’s the first Iranian to play in the NBA.” (Smith pronounced Iranian as “Eye-ranian,” a pronunciation that offended the viewer who complained.)
Lawler: “There aren’t any Iranian players in the NBA,” repeating Smith’s mispronunciation.
Smith: “He’s the only one.”
Lawler: “He’s from Iran?”
Smith: “I guess so.”
Lawler: “That Iran?”
Smith: “Yes.”
Lawler: “The real Iran?”
Smith: “Yes.”
Lawler: “Wow. Haddadi that’s H-A-D-D-A-D-I.”
Smith: “You’re sure it’s not Borat’s older brother?”
Smith: “If they ever make a movie about Haddadi, I’m going to get Sacha Baron Cohen to play the part.”
Lawler: “Here’s Haddadi. Nice little back-door pass. I guess those Iranians can pass the ball.”
Smith: “Especially the post players.
Lawler: “I don’t know about their guards.”
Is this racist? Nope.
Is it offensive? Nope.
Is it appropriate though? Probably nope as well.
Still, pretty funny… (and I’m Iranian, but regardless of that, I can see that broadcasters shouldn’t start to make comments on Blacks, Jews, Chinese, Spaniards, Iranians, Eskimos, etc).
The team agreed:
“We regret the remarks made by Clippers announcers Michael Smith and Ralph Lawler during Wednesday’s telecast,” Fox said in a statement about 2½ hours before the game. “While we believe that Michael and Ralph did not intend their exchange to be offensive, the comments were inappropriate.
“We extend our apologies to Hamed Haddadi of the Memphis Grizzlies and to anyone who was offended. We have addressed the situation with Michael and Ralph and have taken appropriate action.”
Hmm… if only they can now apologize to their fans for sucking for so long… Worth noting LA has a huge Iranian community, but they probably root for the Lakers.
Most shocking of all is the realization that people listen to Clippers’ broadcasts. And if you want to see what a 7 foot 2 Iranian basketball player looks like:
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