A Chicago sportscaster tweeted an unnecessary Freddie Gray ‘joke’
It was exactly one year ago on Friday that the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles played a regular season game in an empty Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The reason for this unique circumstance was strictly about safety concerns stemming from riots in Baltimore over the death of Freddie Gray, who died following a spinal cord injury that was suffered while in police custody.
The situation was no joking matter then. In fact, emotions and tensions in Baltimore were so high that members of the National Guard were brought to help usher a peaceful conclusion.
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It should go without saying that the subject remains no laughing matter one year later. The Baltimore community felt a real loss, and it’s still struggling to understand how a 25-year-old man lost his life under such troubling circumstances.
Unfortunately, longtime Chicago sportscaster Bruce Wolf appeared to not fully understand how sensitive the subject remains, not only in Baltimore, but worldwide. That, or he no regard for such feelings, because during Friday night’s White Sox-Orioles game in Baltimore, he tweeted this.
It was an attempt to be cute and funny, no doubt about that. But it just comes across as a thoroughly misguided attempt to make light of a subject that simply isn’t funny.
Of course, some will say there’s too much sensitivity coming from those who were offended. That it was just his own way of reminding us what happened. Either way, there was enough backlash that Wolf offered a defense of his tweet that may also be an apology. You decide.
Wolf, who was fired from WLS 890 in Chicago last year, has been no stranger to controversies. It’s reported he was suspended twice by WLS for incidents involving the radio station. His was also involved in a controversial on-air discussion about race back in 2014 that was met with a lot negative feedback.
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If he was being genuine. If the idea here truly was to get people thinking and talking about Freddie Gray again, then he accomplished his mission. But there were obviously more respectful and meaningful ways to go about it. Given his history, there’s also plenty of reason to question his motives.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
