Two Weeks ago, Max Bretos, an ESPN
sports anchor was suspended for thirty days for using a reportedly racial slur,
“Chink in the Armor” when talking about New York Knicks’ point guard, Jeremy
Lin. He used this metaphor when referring to Lin’s poor performance against the
New Orleans Hornets when Lin committed nine turnovers in the Knicks’ loss,
which ended their season high 7 game-winning streak.
After hearing this story constantly
on several sports radio and television stations over the past couple of days, I
would like to give my two cents worth about this controversy. First of all I
would like to say I believe that this was a honest mistake by Max Bretos to use
this phrase. Additionally, if this metaphor had been directed at an athlete who
was not of Chinese descent, there would be no controversy concerning his
remark. To my way of thinking, it was just a slip of the tongue statement that
was not intended to be a racist remark demeaning Jeremy Lin’s Chinese heritage,
or Chinese people in general. I
understand that the word “Chink” is a derogatory/inflammatory term for Chinese
people, but in this case, I feel it was used in a different context by Mr.
Bretos. Max Bretos used the phrase “Chink in the Armor” which is commonly used
as a catch phrase by many people (including the media) especially in sports, to
describe an athletes flaw in their otherwise remarkable skill set. From what I
have heard from radio and television, and read from several articles in the
media and his tweets it was not meant to mean anything else. He was only trying
to describe a certain flaw in Mr. Lin’s game performance when questioning an
ESPN’s professional NBA analyst concerning Lin’s nine turnovers that he
committed in the New Orleans game. He wanted to know Lin’s propensity to turn
the ball over could be a blemish on his game that might prove to be a factor in
his ability to be a star player in the near future.
In
addition, consideration should be given to the fact that Max Bretos’s wife is
Asian and it would be insulting to her if what he said was meant to be a racial
slur. I am sure that he would not want to offend his wife and her family just
to make an offensive comic point that could cost him his job and his marriage (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2103047/I-didnt-mean-wife-Asian-ESPN-anchor-suspended-Chink-armor-gaffe-defends-Twitter.html).
I feel that he didn’t think it through that the phrase “Chink in the Armor”,
which is a common phrase, could be taken the wrong way. He spoke without
realizing the impact his words would have. It was a mistake that anybody in the
media or anywhere else could have made.
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