Thaindian News

By Madhuri Dey
Jan 6, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Ron Franklin, one of the popular announcers of ESPN, had to face the ire of the network officials after he supposedly made some objectionable remarks to a female sideline colleague. The announcer who had been associated with the network for almost 24 years, was fired from his job after he referred to colleague Jeannine Edwards as ’sweet baby’ and went on to use an expletive after the sideline reporter objected to it.

A statement that was released by Mike Soltys, the spokesperson of the of the network read that on the basis of the incident that took place involving Ron Franklin and the female sideline colleague, ESPN has taken the decision to end its relationship with the 68-year-old announcer. The network also disallowed Ron Franklin to participate on Saturday’s Fiesta Bowl college football game after he made some not-so-flattering comments about Jeannine Edwards the previous day. Despite the fact that the veteran announcer expressed his apology for saying certain unwarranted things while talking to the network’s sideline reporter, it did not do much to please the ESPN officials who fired him the next day.

The incident took place last week when Ron Franklin was having a conversation with ESPN announcers Ed Cunningham and Rod Gilmore during a pre-game production meeting. According to reports, when Jeannine Edwards attempted to join the conversation, she was rebuffed by the 68-year-old announcer who called her ’sweet baby.’ The sideline reporter immediately objected to the manner in which she was being addressed which did not quite deter Ron Franklin who went on to use an offensive expletive.