ESPN’s Randy Scott has denied accusations of being sexist after appearing to suggest that women’s basketball isn’t basketball on live television.
In a broadcast airing on Saturday, Scott is heard saying “Let’s get back to the actual basketball there in Ann Arbor,” while transitioning from recapping a win by the Maryland women to a men’s game between Michigan and Michigan State.
Scott got on Twitter to defend himself following some criticism, though many people stuck up for him too.
“We did a VO of the moment of silence in Ann Arbor. Then the WBB highlight. Then said “let’s get back to the actual basketball in Ann Arbor.” Then the MBB highlight. Nice try, though,” he explained in a tweet that has since been deleted, per Awful Announcing.
Scott was referring to the moment of silence held for the people who were killed on campus in the Michigan State shooting on February 13. Three students died while five others were critically injured.
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The explanation led to an exchange between Scott and another Twitter user who branded his statement “sexist and disrespectful” to women.
“Respectfully, we did video of the moment of silence in Ann Arbor, then did the Women’s highlight, then as a transition to the men’s highlight, I said ‘let’s get to the actual basketball in Ann Arbor’… Because we’d just 30 seconds earlier done the moment of silence,” Scott tweeted.
“You had the moment of silence in Ann Arbor, went to recap the women’s game, and then said ‘let’s get back to actual basketball’ to transition into the men’s game,” the user replied, “Nice try though.”
“’Actual basketball in Ann Arbor,’ you’re leaving out an important detail,” Scott pointed out.
The critic was far from convinced…
“After rewatching it, there’s a long pause in between,” they wrote. “You can understand the confusion. It’s ‘actual basketball….. they’re in Ann Arbor.’ It wasn’t a fluid sentence.”
Scott eventually apologized for not wording his delivery to be more specific.
