Fox Sports’ Emily Austen reprimanded for racist comments
Fox Sports upset over sideline reporter Emily Austen’s insensitive remarks.
On Thursday, Fox Sports Orlando Magic and Tampa Bay Rays sideline reporter Emily Austen appeared on Barstool Sports “The Rundown”, an R-rated version of ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption”, and made several insensitive and racist comments.
First, Austen called Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love a “little bitch” numerous times, initially because he missed Game 3 of the Finals with a concussion, but eventually backed-off and adjusted her stance claiming, “he can’t play”.
Then, as the discussion moved towards a high school girl who revealed that despite her undocumented status she was able to earn a full scholarship to the University of Texas, Austen said, “I didn’t even know Mexicans were that smart.” She quickly doubled-down and said, “…you guys know that the Chinese guy is the smartest guy in math class.”
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Finally, Austen completed the Triple Crown of offensive comments when she recounted a story of her days as a server, in which she claimed that “Jews were stingy”.
Fox Sports issued the following statement in response to Austen’s comments:
"We were made aware that Emily Austen appeared in a social media video unaffiliated with FOX Sports in which she made insensitive and derogatory comments. She was not speaking on behalf of FOX Sports, nor do we condone any of the statements she made in the video. Emily has been advised that her comments were unacceptable, and she is not scheduled to appear on any upcoming FOX Sports Florida or FOX Sports Sun broadcasts."
The broadcast first appeared on Facebook Live, but was quickly taken down with Barstool Sports claiming the video was “lost” in what appeared to be an effort to protect their guest. Unfortunately for Austen, a viewer saved the footage and uploaded the entire video to Vimeo, which can be seen here.
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