Minnesota Hockey Broadcaster Pulled Mid-Game After Telling Fans to ‘Get out the Lynching Ropes’

Plenty of sports broadcasters have been pulled off the air for ill-advised comments that they made during broadcasts. However, few of them have actually been pulled off the air during a broadcast.

Though, that’s exactly what happened to a hockey announcer in Minnesota.

Doug McLeod was handling play-by-play duties during the Minnesota Boys’ State Hockey Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday, when he told “all the White Bear fans to get out the lynching ropes.”

Listen:

As word of McLeod’s comments began to circulate, 45TV studio host Tom Hauser released the following statement.

Earlier in this broadcast this afternoon, there was an inappropriate comment made. If you were offended by this comment, we sincerely apologize.

According to Awful Announcing:

Charlie Beattie, the sideline reporter, was called into the booth to announce the remaining two games of the quarterfinals for McLeod. The comment came shortly after Blaine took a 3-0 lead early in the second period. Blaine would go on to win 4-2 to advance to the semifinals.

While the Minnesota Boys’ State Hockey Tournament may sound like a pretty low level event, it’s a big deal in Minnesota. It regularly sells out the Xcel Energy Center and the games do attract a considerable audience on television.

McLeod’s main gig is the Minnesota Gophers’ play-by-play announcer for Fox Sports North. Gopher hockey has a pretty sizable following in Minnesota.

“The University of Minnesota starts a best-of-three playoff series tonight against Michigan that will be broadcast by FSN Plus.  But according to Brian Deutsch, a university athletics spokesman, the series is being produced by the Big Ten Network, and McLeod was never scheduled to be part of the broadcast team,” according to the Star Tribune.

Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn