Watson was absent on Thursday, September 22, for the Cleveland Browns’ Thursday Night Football matchup against their AFC North divisional rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, serving the third game of his suspension. But the quarterback’s name wasn’t missing from the broadcast.
This greatly upset several names in sports journalism. ESPN senior writer Don Van Natta Jr. was beyond displeased that the story was framed from the perspective of the billionaire owner being disappointed that Watson wasted their money by not being on the field rather than from the standpoint of sexual assault victims:
Tyler Greever, an anchor from ABC’s local Louisville affiliate, couldn’t believe that Watson’s misconduct against over 20 women wasn’t mentioned a single time when going over Watson’s suspension timeline:
Al Michaels’ Deshaun Watson comment isn’t his first gaffe on air
Al Michaels has had a history of making offensive flubs on the air before. Last year, Michaels brought up Antonio Brown’s “past issues” during a Buccaneers-Cowboys Sunday Night Football broadcast but never said what those issues were. Brown was accused of sexual assault by a former trainer. Then, in 2017 during an October 15 SNF broadcast, Michaels compared the New York Giants to Harvey Weinstein.
This latest comment falls more in line with the Antonio Brown comment last season, but it’s somewhat shocking Michaels even got away with his Giants comment during the height of the #MeToo movement.
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