ESPN Anchor Suspended: Network Suspends Max Bretos for Controversial Comments

ESPN has taken action in the wake of a scandal that saw a SportsCenter anchor and the ESPN.com front page editor use a racial slur in reference to New York Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin on Friday.

According the New York Times, the Worldwide Leader in Sports suspended Max Bretos for 30 days for uttering the phrase and fired another employee who included the pejorative in question in a headline about Lin that ran on ESPN.com's mobile website following the Knicks' loss to the New Orleans Hornets.

ESPN issued the following statement to address the matter:

"

We again apologize, especially to Mr. Lin. His accomplishments are a source of great pride to the Asian-American community, including the Asian-American employees at ESPN. Through self-examination, improved editorial practices and controls, and response to constructive criticism, we will be better in the future.

"

Bretos slipped in the slur, one considered offensive to Asian-Americans, while discussing Linsanity with former Knicks legend and current MSG TV commentator Walt Frazier.

The breadth of the debacle may soon spread to ESPN Radio in New York, where Spero Dedes, the Knicks' radio play-by-play announcer who used the very same phrase in reference to Lin, whose family is of Chinese and Taiwanese descent.

ESPN's editors made a similar gaffe four years ago, using the slur in question in the headline of a story about Team USA basketball during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

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