Instagram/@EmilyAusten
You’d expect a sideline reporter would have enough sense to hold back from making racist and anti-Semitic comments on camera, but apparently not when it comes to Fox Sports Florida’s Emily Austen. Predictably, the Orlando Magic and Tampa Bay Rays sideline reporter was fired quickly after she made a series of distasteful comments on a Barstool Sports live Facebook show. The show was quickly taken down from the Barstool Sports page, but its remnants remain on the internet and, unfortunately for Austen, the damage has been done.
The offensive comments included:
- Saying she “didn’t even know Mexicans were that smart” about a Mexican valedictorian who revealed herself to be an undocumented immigrant. Yikes.
- Attempting to rationalize the Mexican comment by talking about how “the Chinese guy is always the smartest guy in math class.” Not cool.
- Telling a story about how stingy the Jews were when she worked as a waitress in Boca. That’s messed up.
- Calling Kevin Love a little bitch several times. Ok, that one might not be completely off-base.
As always happens in situations like this, legions of the internet are shouting “FIRST AMENDMENT!” But as is always the case, Austen had a right to say what she did but that doesn’t mean Fox Sports Florida didn’t have the right to can her. Perhaps none of the comments in isolation would have been enough to get her fired, but saying all of the above in one interview just shows horrendous judgment. Austen is way too fond of stereotypes and, though it is silly to correlate hair color with intelligence, seems only to be reaffirming the prominent stereotype that blondes are dumb.
