ESPN condemns ‘completely inappropriate’ remark from LaVar Ball to Molly Qerim
LaVar Ball made an inappropriate remark to ESPN’s Molly Qerim during an appearance on “First Take” Monday morning, and the network says the patriarch of the Ball family has been made aware that the comment was not appreciated.
At one point during the interview, Qerim asked Ball if she could “switch gears” for a minute and change to another topic. Ball responded with a childish smile and told Qerim she “can switch gears with me anytime.”
LaVar shooting his shot at Molly Qerim during First Take interview? Jalen Rose gonna bust him up lol pic.twitter.com/HeIB9CFIxH
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) June 17, 2019
Ball was immediately ripped for the remark, which was viewed as sexual in nature and immature. ESPN later issued a statement condemning the comment.
“LaVar Ball’s comment to Molly Qerim Rose was completely inappropriate and we made him aware of that,” a network spokesperson said.
Qerim, the wife of former NBA player and fellow ESPN employee Jalen Rose, later joked on the show that she is going to have to get in touch with human resources. Ball’s rep Denise White issued a statement saying LaVar did not intend for the comment to be “sexual in nature.”
“[LaVar] was asked if he wanted to switch gears, in his mind switching gears was ‘changing the subject anytime’ and he said, ‘yes, you can switch gears with me anytime,'” White said, via TMZ. “At NO time was that intended or meant to be sexual in nature.”
Ball isn’t going to get the benefit of the doubt, especially since he has made misogynistic remarks to female sports personalities in the past. He even turned one sexist comment he made into a T-shirt so he could profit from it.
