It was news when ESPN fired baseball analyst Curt Schilling for a post he made on Facebook opposing genderless public bathrooms, but Fox 17 in Nashville took the faux-outrage firing to a new level when they dismissed sportscaster Dan Phillips Friday.
Phillips, who’d been with the station since 2005, is a huge Prince fan. As such, he did a sportscast as a tribute to the late musician that included references and quotes of his most famous songs. Clever wordsmithing in the past, such as this weather report laden with Taylor Swift lyrics, have garnered viral status for their creativity.
When Phillips completed his sportscast, some viewers complained the use of Prince’s lyrics was “insensitive” and he was fired.
Writing of his termination on his Facebook page, Phillips told fans:
First of all, I want to thank everyone for the kind words, comments and positive feedback on this tribute I did to Prince last week. It really means a lot.
Unfortunately, there were apparently some viewers, as well as management at the station, who did not feel the same way. They felt I was insensitive. And as a result, I was terminated today.
I’m choosing to use this as a catalyst for some exciting things I’ve been working on for some time now. I’ll have many more details on this in coming days.
For now, thanks again for all of your support. And if you need an old, washed-up sports guy for anything, please let me know!
Watch the broadcast for yourself and see if you can find anything “insensitive” about it.