ESPN canned one of its longtime baseball reporters after she volleyed an epithet at another reporter, calling her a “f—— c—” during a New York Yankees game earlier this month.
Marly Rivera scheduled an on-air interview with Yankee Aaron Judge on April 18 as the team was competing against the Los Angeles Angels. During the interview, freelance reporter Ivón Gaete walked over to Judge and started asking questions even after Rivera explained it was a pre-scheduled interview, the New York Post reported. Gaete ignored Rivera’s explanation and that’s when the ESPN reporter hurled the expletive, according to the Post.
ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz confirmed Rivera’s firing in a statement saying, “She no longer works here.” ESPN, which hired Rivera in 2011, removed her staff bio from its website. Prior to ESPN, Rivera worked for MLB and Univision.
Rivera apologized to Gaete but the freelancer did not accept it, the Post reported.
“I fully accept responsibility for what I said, which I should not have,” Rivera told the Post. “There were extenuating circumstances but that in no way is an excuse for my actions.”
Rivera, who recently deleted her Twitter account, did not immediately respond to a LinkedIn message about the firing.
“I’m being singled out”
Rivera told the Post that her comments toward Gaete were probably only part of the reason she was fired.
“I am a professional with a sterling reputation across baseball and I do believe that I am being singled out by a group of individuals with whom I have a long history of professional disagreements,” she said.
Rivera now joins a small list of journalists — both domestically and abroad — who have been fired after using the C-word.
British journalist Krishnan Guru-Murthy was taken off the air last October after he used the word to describe Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker, the Guardian reported. The Daily Mail fired an unnamed Australian journalist in 2018 after she used the word to describe contestants on the reality series “Bachelor in Paradise.” Tucker Carlson, the erstwhile Fox News prime-time host, parted was dismissed by the network this week in part because he called a senior executive the C-word in a private message, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Rivera’s departure comes the same week as layoffs across the ESPN sports network. ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro sent a memo to employees Monday saying the cuts mostly impact management positions, Sports Business Journal reported.
“We will have another wave of notifications that will be completed by the start of the summer for those that are not in front-facing talent roles,” Pitaro said in the memo, adding that ESPN also plans to lay off on-air talent later this year.
