Colin Cowherd Tries to Explain Remarks on Dominicans

The ESPN radio host Colin Cowherd went on the air July 24 to try to explain comments he made the day before that seemed to denigrate the intelligence of Dominicans in baseball, as ESPN said the remarks were “inappropriate” and a players union executive called them “ignorant.” In the comments on his program on July 23, Cowherd had questioned those who say baseball is complex by saying: “Like I’ve never bought into that, ‘Baseball’s just too complex.’ Really? A third of the sport is from the Dominican Republic.”

On July 24, Cowherd excoriated the editing of his remarks, which had sparked criticism online that he was insulting Dominicans generally. On his show, Cowherd replayed his entire remarks, in which he described the Dominican Republic as lacking “world-class academic abilities,” and said that “a lot of those kids come from rough backgrounds and have not had opportunities academically that other kids from other countries have.” Major League Baseball demanded an apology, saying in a statement that the comments by Cowherd were “inappropriate, offensive and completely inconsistent with the values of our game.” In its statement, ESPN said that some of Cowherd’s comments “do not reflect ESPN’s values of respect for all communities.”