Disgraced Sports Announcer Claims 90% of Fans Want Him Back 14 Months After Blurting Anti-Gay Slur on Hot Mic

Fourteen months after pressing self-destruct on what was a renowned sportscasting career, Thom Brennaman believes most fans want him back behind the mic.

Last year, the now former MLB and NFL play-by-play announcer blurted an anti-gay slur that was caught by a hot mic while calling a Cincinnati Reds game. Brennaman has repeatedly apologized for the incident and predictably participated in diversity training. As he slowly attempts to rehabilitate his career, Brennaman says the fans want him back.

“If I’m in the grocery or getting a cup of coffee at the local convenient shop, 99% of those I bump into, I’ll hear, ‘We wish you were back, we miss you!’ Let’s say it’s even 90%,” Brennaman told Sports Broadcast Journal’s David Halberstam. “Are execs going to make a decision to appease the 10%? Wouldn’t you listen to the massive 90%?”

In August 2020, Brennaman was heard saying, “one of the f*g capitals of the world,” during the first game of a doubleheader on Fox Sports Ohio. The slur came while a promo for the Reds pregame show was being displayed by the network.

As the Reds and Fox Sports Ohio were alerted to the shameful error, Brennaman was awkwardly pulled from the TV booth about two hours later, during the second game of the doubleheader. The context of the comment was unclear at the time, but Halberstam wrote that the anti-gay slur uttered by Brennaman was in reference to San Francisco.

“I wasn’t aware that we on the air but when my mic was hot, I made a homophobic remark,” Brennaman told Halberstam. “Although it wasn’t on-air, the clip made its way to the internet and went viral from there. There’s no defending the word I used in any form or fashion. I’ve owned up to it every second since.”

After the incident, Brennaman was quickly suspended before ultimately resigning from his position as the TV voice of the Cincinnati Reds. Fox Sports later chose not to renew his contract as one of their premier NFL announcers.

During the interview with Sports Broadcast Journal, Brennaman also defended another tarnished sportscaster. Last year, former Sacramento Kings play-by-play voice Grant Napear was fired after responding to the Black Lives Matter movement with “ALL LIVES MATTER” on Twitter.

“How do you justify it? What did he do?” Brennaman said of Napear. “If we live in an environment that BLM matters, don’t all lives matter? That makes you a racist? How ludicrous is that? Napear is one of the great guys in our business.”

The 58-year-old Brennaman signed on with Chatterbox Sports in July to call high school sporting events as he continues to try and mend his career. “All I can tell you is that I remain a good father and a good Christian,” Brennaman added to Halberstam.