ESPN Pulls Announcer Robert Lee From UVA Opening Football Game Due To Name

ESPN announced late Tuesday that it has removed one of its broadcasters from coverage of the University of Virginia’s season-opening football game because he shares the same name as Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

ESPN Announcer Robert Lee news

Statues of Lee and other Confederate monuments have been taken down all across the country in the wake of rallies held by neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other alt-right groups like the ones that descended upon Charlottesville, Virginia earlier this month to protest the removal of such statues. The violent clashes between Unite the Right extremists and counter-protesters in Charlottesville left dozens of people injured and three dead: two state troopers and a 32-year-old woman, Heather Heyer. 

UVA — whose campus is located in Charlottesville and through which several hate groups marched on Aug. 11  — is set to host the College of William and Mary for its first football game of the season on Sept. 2. Although ESPN’s Robert Lee was set to call the game, a spokeswoman for the network announced Lee will now be moved to Youngstown State’s game at Pittsburgh on the ACC Network — the same network on which Virginia’s game is scheduled to air — on Sept. 2

“We collectively made the decision with Robert to switch games as the tragic events in Charlottesville were unfolding, simply because of the coincidence of his name,” ESPN said in a statement. “In that moment it felt right to all parties. It’s a shame that this is even a topic of conversation and we regret that who calls play-by-play for a football game has become an issue.”

Mr. Lee, whose full-time job is at a payroll services company in Albany, began taking play-calling duties at ESPN last fall, according to his LinkedIn profile.  For the last 17 years, he has also called men’s basketball games for Siena College in Albany. Many people jumped on social media to criticize the pulling of Lee — who is Asian-American — from UVA’s broadcast, calling the move ridiculous and even racist.

Lee has not yet commented on the decision.