“We collectively made the decision with Robert to switch games as the tragic events in Charlottesville were unfolding, simply because of the coincidence of his name,” Derek Volner, an ESPN spokesman, told The Washington Post in an emailed statement. “In that moment it felt right to all parties. It’s a shame that this is even a topic of conversation and we regret that who calls play by play for a football game has become an issue.”

Volner declined to say if the network made a preemptive decision or responded to outside pressure to pull Lee from the broadcast. Lee, a sportscaster for 20 years, began his career calling games at Syracuse, his alma mater. He is fluent in English and Mandarin Chinese, according to his online resume. He did not respond to a request for comment on Twitter and has not been made available for comment.

As President Trump was about to address a rally, the decision quickly generated mocking Internet memes and derisive jokes, but it wasn’t one that the Asian American Journalists Association felt crossed a line. “Although AAJA understands this was a personnel decision to reassign ESPN announcer Robert Lee to another event, it is unfortunate that someone’s name, particularly a last name that is common among Asian Americans, can be a potential liability,” the organization said Wednesday in an email to The Post. “We do not, however, believe this decision was motivated by race.”

AD

AD

According to Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch, another ESPN representative said the company did not “mandate Robert Lee change his assignment” and that Lee was “more comfortable” not doing it. Clay Travis of Outkick the Coverage broke the story.

White nationalists, neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members clashed with counterprotesters in Charlottesville earlier this month during protests against the planned removal of a Robert E. Lee statue. A counterprotester, Heather Heyer, was killed and 19 others were injured when a man allegedly linked to neo-Nazi beliefs drove his car into a crowd, according to the authorities.

News of the unlikely coincidence — that Robert Lee would not, in fact, be coming to Charlottesville for a football game — gave social media users a rare chance to find glimmers of humor in an incident that sparked violence, a public affairs disaster at the White House and increasing calls to remove Confederate monuments nationwide.

Many people used ESPN’s decision to take aim at divisive sports commentators.

AD

AD

Of course, the Internet being the Internet, some criticized the decision based on perceptions of political correctness.

Volner, the ESPN spokesman, said Lee will instead cover Youngstown State at Pittsburgh on Sept. 2 on the ACC Network Extra channel.

Robert E. Lee V, the great-great-grandson of Gen. Robert E. Lee, told The Post that none of his friends were concerned about the legacy of his name.

“To them I’m Rob Lee, and they could absolutely care less,” said Lee, the longtime boys’ athletic director at the Potomac School in McLean, Va.

He added that “when we named [my son] Robert E. Lee VI, we were doing it in recognition of my father and his father.”