Astros broadcaster Preston Wilson apologizes for on-air slavery joke
Houston Astros TV analyst Preston Wilson apologized Saturday for joking during a broadcast that he’d rather prevent the slider from ever being invented than go back in time and erase slavery.
“Earlier today I made a comment that may have offended people and for that I am sorry,” Wilson tweeted. “What I said was inappropriate and not a reflection of the Houston Astros nor AT&T SportsNet.”
During the Astros’ 5-4 loss to the Cleveland Indians, Wilson, who is black, made a reference to slavery while trying to describe how much he hated it when pitchers threw him sliders during his 10-year major league career.
“I actually had somebody ask me if I could go back in history and change one thing, I skipped right over slavery and went to the slider,” Wilson said during the broadcast. “That’s how I feel about it.”
According to the Houston Chronicle, Wilson continued by saying, “I realized that was selfish, so then after I thought about it, I was like, you know what, maybe I should change what I said, but that’s how hard it is to hit a slider in the big leagues.”
The Astros and AT&T SportsNet Southwest have not yet commented on the matter, but the team retweeted Wilson’s apology on Saturday.
Twitter: @chewkiii
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