Longtime Reds broadcaster Thom Brennaman has decided to resign from his position with the team after he recently uttered a gay slur during a live broadcast.
“My family and I have decided that I am going to step away from my role as the television voice of the Cincinnati Reds,” Brennaman said in a statement WCPO, the Reds broadcast partner. “I would like to thank the Reds, Reds fans and the LGBTQ community for the incredible support and grace they have shown my family and me.”
As ESPN reports:
On Aug. 19, Brennaman used the slur moments after the Fox Sports Ohio feed returned from a commercial break before the top of the seventh inning in the first game of a doubleheader at Kansas City. Brennaman did not seem to realize he was already on air. He later apologized.
The Reds took Brennaman off the broadcast in the fifth inning of the second game, handing his duties to alternate play-by-play man Jim Day.
On Friday, Brennaman said he was “so very sorry” for his comment and hoped to continue as a broadcaster.
‘And if I’m given that opportunity, I will be a better broadcaster and a much better person,’ Brennaman, 57, said in his statement.
The Reds acknowledged and approved of Brennaman’s decision. Reds CEO Bob Castellini made it known that the team “applaud(s) his heartfelt efforts of reconciliation with the LGBTQ+ community.”
“The Brennaman family has been an intrinsic part of the Reds history for nearly fifty years,” Castellini said. “We sincerely thank Thom for bringing the excitement of Reds baseball to million of fans during his years in the booth.”
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