Tennis Channel commentator Jon Wertheim has been suspended after insulting a participant’s look on the air.
Wertheim, who can be a “60 Minutes” correspondent, poked enjoyable at Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova’s face on Friday throughout a report on her WTA Finals match in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Wertheim mentioned he was related through Zoom and bothered by a digicam angle that made his brow look huge, prompting a impolite remark that he didn’t notice was being broadcast.
“Who do you assume I’m, Barbora Krejcikova?” Wertheim mentioned within the hot-mic second. “Take a look at the brow when Krejcikova and Zheng take the court docket. Eight-head.”
Krejcikova, who lost to Zheng Qinwen within the semifinal, acquired wind of Wertheim’s remarks. The Czech Republic athlete, the world No. 10, referred to as out Wertheim for “unprofessional commentary.”
“I’ve typically chosen to not converse up, however I consider it’s time to deal with the necessity for respect and professionalism in sports activities media,” she wrote on X, the previous Twitter. “These moments distract from the true essence of sport and the dedication all athletes convey to the sphere. ”
Wertheim posted a prolonged notice on X concerning the circumstances of his comment, and mentioned that he’d apologized to Krejcikova.
“I notice: I’m not the sufferer right here,” he wrote. “It was neither skilled nor charitable nor reflective of the individual I try to be. I’m accountable. I personal this. I’m sorry.”
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Wertheim will stay off the air indefinitely.
“Jon has devoted his profession to shining a lightweight on and rising this sport and has been a valued member of our household and the tennis neighborhood,” the Tennis Channel mentioned in a press release to the New York Post. “That mentioned, Tennis Channel holds its workers to an ordinary of respectfulness for others always, an ordinary that was not met on this second.”
