Thom Brennaman, Reds Announcer, Apologizes for Homophobic Slur

An announcer for Fox Sports who has been calling Major League Baseball games for more than 30 years apologized on Wednesday night after he used a homophobic slur during a live broadcast of a Cincinnati Reds doubleheader against the Kansas City Royals.

“I don’t know if I’m going to be putting on this headset again,” the announcer, Thom Brennaman, said in an on-air apology, which he briefly interrupted to announce a home run by the Reds’ Nick Castellanos. “I don’t know if it’s going to be for the Reds. I don’t know if it’s going to be for my bosses at Fox.”

Mr. Brennaman said he wanted to apologize to the “people who sign my paycheck,” to the Reds, to Fox Sports Ohio and to “anybody that I’ve offended here tonight.”

“I can’t begin to tell you how deeply sorry I am,” he said. “That is not who I am. It never has been. And I’d like to think maybe I could have some people that could back that up. I am very, very sorry and I beg for your forgiveness.”