Fox Sports fired announcer Craig James earlier this month after one day on the job for comments he made during a 2012 Texas Republican Senate primary in which he indicated his support for traditional marriage and his belief that people were not born gay.
Before he ran for Senate, James was hired by ESPN despite being a big part of the only death penalty in NCAA football history, when SMU was banned for having him and many others on payroll (James admitted in 2012 he had taken money). James continued on after Texas Tech coach Mike Leach accused him of using his position at ESPN to get Leach fired. But now he has gone over the line – getting fired for supporting the Christian view of marriage.
After leaving ESPN to run for the US Senate and finishing fourth in the primary against eventual nominee Ted Cruz in 2012, he seemed to land right back on his feet at Fox Sports, only to be fired after one day.
A Fox spokesman told the Dallas Morning News: “We just asked ourselves how Craig’s statements would play in our human resources department. He couldn’t say those things here.”
His comments came during a forum in which Cruz laid out his efforts to stop attempts by gay advocacy groups to legal maneuvering (e.g. getting married in another state then getting a divorce in a state that did not allow gay marriage to set a precedent). The comments of each candidate can be viewed in this clip from the Daily Mail in England.
The Christian Post has asked its readers to complain to Fox Sports, and published the following summary:
During the course of his campaign, James was asked (along with all the candidates) what he thought about marriage and human sexuality. Knowing the research is on his side, James said that no one is born gay. He also went on to declare biblical truth and said, “…[T]hey are going to have to answer to the Lord for their actions,” and pledged not to support same-sex unions.