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ESPN is over giving LaVar Ball and his mouth almighty any more airtime.
Period.
—Ex-Fort Valley State employee pleads guilty to leading prostitution ring—
Ball recently overstepped his bounds when he made an inappropriate comment to ESPN’s First Take co-host Molly Qerim when discussing his sons LaMelo and LiAngelo. When Qerim told Ball that she was “switching gears” to go from talking about LaMelo to Lonzo, the ballsy dad replied, “You can switch gears with me any day.”
That comment seemed to catch Qerim off-guard, which prompted co-host Stephen A. Smith to respond, “Good lord.”
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
TMZ spoke with Qerim and asked if removing Ball from the network was the right move.
“I’m satisfied [with ESPN’s response],’ she told the outlet. Yeah, 100 percent. ESPN was really supportive, and I appreciate that all the executives had my back. So, much appreciated.”
“LaVar Ball’s comment to Molly Qerim Rose was completely inappropriate and we made him aware of that,” ESPN said in a statement, according to The Athletic.
According to Richard Deitsch of Sportsnet, an ESPN spokesperson said, “There will be no LaVar Ball on any ESPN platform heading forward — at least as of now.
There will be no LaVar Ball on any ESPN platform heading forward — at least as of now. Asked if Ball will be used as an on-air guest, an on-the-record source for digital, or a background source for ESPN, an ESPN spokesperson said,”We have no plans moving forward.”
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) June 19, 2019
Ball’s rep told the outlet that his comment wasn’t “intended or meant to be sexual in nature.”
Ball has reportedly made questionable comments to other female hosts before.
—South L.A. police shooting of unarmed Black man prompts angry response from rapper The Game—