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Thom Brennaman YouTube/Local 12Thom Brennaman is getting a second chance at sports broadcasting nearly four years after a gay slur threatened the future of his career.
According to The Athletic, Brennaman, 60, will return to the airwaves this fall as The CW‘s lead play-by-play broadcaster for nationally televised college football games.
“There are no words to describe how grateful I am that they’re rolling the dice,” Brennaman told the publication on Sunday, July 21. “They don’t have to do this.”
His first game will be on August 31 when Oregon State takes on Idaho State. While Brennaman will begin as part of The CW’s Pac-12 package, he will predominantly work on the ACC.
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“I’m so excited about it and nervous about it,” Brennaman said. “I haven’t done this in four years. People say, ‘Oh, it’s like riding a bike.’ Well, that might be true. We’ll find out if that’s true.”
In August 2020, Brennaman was calling a Cincinnati Reds and Kansas City Royals baseball game for a local Cincinnati TV station when he referred to Kansas City as “one of the [f-slur] capitals of the world” while thinking he was off-air.
The clip quickly went viral and Brennaman attempted to apologize during the game. As he was showing remorse, however, Brennaman interrupted himself to describe a Reds home run by Nick Castellanos.
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“I made a comment earlier tonight that I guess went out over the air that I am deeply ashamed of,” he said. “If I have hurt anyone out there, I can’t tell you how much I say from the bottom of my heart that I am so very, very sorry. I pride myself and think of myself as a man of faith, as there’s a drive into deep left field by Castellanos, that will be a home run, and so that will make it a 4-0 ballgame.”
After three decades of calling MLB games, Brennaman lost his job with the Reds and struggled to find stable work.
In the past four years, the father of two said he has worked with members of the LGBTQIA+ community, both in Cincinnati and nationally. “It was mainly about listening to people,” he told The Athletic.
Brennaman has also received support from fellow broadcaster Bob Costas and Outsports founder Cyd Zeigler.
“Neither Thom nor anyone else denies that he had a serious misstep,” Costas told The Athletic. “A misstep for which some consequence would have been appropriate. But the price he has paid is beyond disproportionate. Especially when you consider that he had a fine reputation prior to the incident and took every proper step to make amends subsequent to it.”
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