Emily Austen, a sideline reporter for the Tampa Bay Rays and Orlando Magic games, lost her gig with Fox Sports Florida and Fox Sports Sun over racist comments she made on a Barstool Sports show Thursday.
Austen appeared on “The Rundown,” a daily TV program Barstool Sports produces, and made a few racist remarks while enjoying the casual atmosphere. Among the racist comments made on the show, which was broadcast on Facebook live, Austen said:
– That she “didn’t even know that Mexicans were that smart.”
– How the “Chinese guy is always the smartest guy in math class.”
– About how she “used to talk to Jews in Boca” when she was a server, saying one customer was “stingy” because he complained about how she poured his beer and that “they would complain and b—- about everything.”
You can hear the comments around the 25:30 mark:
Along with those comments, Austen said she had been fired from a server job at a restaurant shortly after making a rude comment to a customer. She also said “I’m not trying to be racist.”
Austen worked as a contractor for FOX Sports and is no longer going to be working for them, FOX Sports Florida GM Steve Tello said in a statement.
“We were made aware that Emily Austen appeared in a social media video unaffiliated with Fox Sports in which she made insensitive and derogatory comments. She was not speaking on behalf of Fox Sports, nor do we condone any of the statements she made in the video. Emily has been advised that her comments were unacceptable, and she is not scheduled to appear on any upcoming Fox Sports Florida or Fox Sports Sun broadcasts,” Tello said via the Tampa Bay Times.
The video was taken down from Barstool’s Facebook page.
