ESPN Takes Action Against Pair For Comments About Knicks Star Jeremy Lin

The sports network today said it has fired one employee and suspended another for 30 days following separate inappropriate race-sensitivecomments about NY Knicks guard Jeremy Lin. A third incident involving comments about Lin — who is Chinese-American, born of Taiwanese parents and was raised in Palo Alto, Calif. — occurred Friday on ESPN Radio NY but no action was taken because the commentator is not an employee. After the Knicks lost to New Orleans on Friday — the team’s first defeat with Lin, a Harvard graduate and free-agent point guard, in the starting lineup — ESPN Mobile ran a story under the headline “Chink in the armor”. The headline was only up for a half hour or so, but the editor responsible for it was fired. On Wednesday, ESPNNews achor Max Bretos made the same comment during an interview.Bretos has been suspended for 30 days, according to a statement released today on the ESPN website. “We again apologize, especially to Mr. Lin,” it reads in part. “His accomplishments are a source of great pride to the Asian-American community, including the Asian-American employees at ESPN. Through self-examination, improved editorial practices and controls, and response to constructive criticism, we will be better in the future.” Lin has been the talk of NY since his emergence, and even spurred Time Warner Cable and Knicks network MSG to resolve a 48-day carriage dispute that had kept the team — and Lin — off the airwaves in about 2.5 million homes in NY.