Ron Franklin got himself in hot water Friday for being rude to female colleague Jeannine Edwards. After being suspended from calling the the Fiesta Bowl on the radio, the sportscaster issued an apology, but his bosses weren’t feeling too forgiving. On Tuesday, ESPN announced that they had fired Franklin.

“Based on what occurred last Friday, we have ended our relationship with him,” said ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz.

While Franklin was out of line – you can read a play-by-play of the conversation here – firing him over this single incident seems harsh. It makes us wonder if Franklin had a pattern of sexist behavior, and ESPN had finally had enough.

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ESPN pulled announcer Ron Franklin from Saturday’s radio broadcast of the Fiesta Bowl over some objectionable remarks to a female colleague.

There’s been some conflicting reports over exactly what words were used that got Franklin in hot water – early reports had the fellow calling a female colleague “sweetcheeks” – but the colleague in question, sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards, has clarified the story somewhat.

It all went down at a production meeting on Friday, when Edwards was in conversation with ESPN announcer Rod Gilmore. Ron Franklin joined the conversation, and said to Edwards, “Listen to me, sweet baby, let me tell you something …”

Edwards objected to being spoken to in such a condescending manner, so Franklin replied: “OK, then listen to me, asshole.”

From “sweet baby” to “asshole” – Better? We think so. At least the second swipe is gender neutral.

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