ESPN radio host taken off air over 'racist' remarks

ESPN Radio host Colin Cowherd has been taken off air due to comments construed as being racist. Photo / Getty

ESPN Radio host Colin Cowherd has been taken off air after uttering comments many people construed as racist.

Cowherd had said Friday that he didn't believe baseball was complex, saying a third of the sport was from the Dominican Republic, which had "not been known, in my lifetime, as having, you know, world-class academic abilities."

His statements were labelled racist by several leading sports websites such as Deadspin and SB Nation, with Major League Baseball saying he owed Dominican players an apology for the remarks he made during his show.

In a statement, baseball said it "condemns the remarks," calling them "inappropriate, offensive and completely inconsistent with the values of our game."

Cowherd was set to leave ESPN for Fox Sports in the coming weeks, but as a result of his comments, he was dismissed from his role before the end of his contract.

There were 83 Dominican players on opening-day rosters, representing about 10 percent of all players in the majors.

One of them, Blue Jays star Jose Bautista, asked Cowherd on Twitter on Thursday for an explanation.

MLB followed Saturday, saying: "Mr. Cowherd owes our players of Dominican origin, and Dominican people generally, an apology."

In a statement about Cowherd's remarks, players' union head Tony Clark said "to make an ignorant point by denigrating the intelligence of our Dominican members was not 'clunky' - it was offensive."

- AP