In the TV show Seinfeld, Elaine once dated a man that shared a name with serial killer Joel Rifkin. Of course, in the episode Joel is paged by the public address announcer at Giants Stadium during a football game, leading Elaine to have to explain “He’s not that one” to all of the fans around them. She tries to convince him to change his name–even suggesting “OJ”–which is ironic, as that episode aired just a couple of months before OJ Simpson’s infamous white Bronco chase on national TV and his being charged with killing his ex-wife, Nicole, and Ron Goldman.
Now in the latest episode of life imitating art, sportscaster Robert Lee finds himself embroiled in a controversy over his name. No doubt you’ve heard that ESPN pulled Lee off the play-by-play for the University of Virginia football game against William and Mary over concerns that his sharing a name with a Confederate general would be inappropriate after what happened in Charlottesville last week. After news of the transfer was leaked to a website by someone inside of ESPN, the network tried to explain the move as “protection” for Lee–whom they feared would be the butt of on-line jokes and social media memes.
I’d be willing to bet that if ESPN had not made the switch, and Lee did the UVA game next week, there would have been no backlash–from internet trolls or the easily-offended people on the Left–because no one would have noticed. Virginia-William and Mary was going to be on ESPN3–which is a streaming-only service. Diehard Cavalier fans would have logged on to watch–and I’d be willing to bet that the last time any of them thought about the Civil War was in their 8th grade US History class. And the only thing that would have offended social activists on the Charlottesville campus that Saturday afternoon is the William and Mary team name: The Tribe.
But now, poor Robert Lee will have no choice but to adopt a new on-air name (which is very common in TV and Radio anyway). “Bob Lee” won’t work–because ESPN already has a Bob Ley–who has been with the network since it’s inception in 1979 and somehow has never once been considered offensive to African-Americans or inappropriate for broadcasting an event in The South. Some names he might want to avoid: Chris Columbus, Jeff Davis and Joe Goebbels. He’ll probably still want to pass on OJ as well.
