Doug Gottlieb opened the CBS broadcast of tonight’s Sweet 16 with an awkward diversity joke. It left the rest of the crew speechless.
“Cream rising to the crop. I don’t know why you guys asked me, I’m just here to bring diversity to the set. Give the kind of white man’s perspective…from the point guard position. No? No?”
crickets
Gottlieb later issued a statement through CBS: “It was not a smart thing to say and I apologize.” Not sure what’s he apologizing for. Bad timing on the joke? Poor delivery? Let’s hope this doesn’t become a trend (apologizing for bad jokes that is).
Meanwhile, Charles Barkley issued a statement of his own, defending Gottlieb and shutting down “the crazies” on Twitter.
“I know this has nothing to do with the game—I want to say something about Doug Gottlieb. He made a joke earlier tonight and people are going crazy. All those idiots on Twitter, which I would never ever do, all you people at home who’ve got no life and are talking bad about Doug Gottlieb, get a life. It’s over with. It’s no big deal.”
Just Chuck being Chuck.