Chicago Sports Reporter Sacked for Old YouTube Videos
A Comcast Sports Chicago Reporter has been let go, two days after a very innocent on air flub.
Susannah Collins, part of the broadcast team covering the Chicago Blackhawks, is no longer with the network as of Thursday.
This come just two days of internet attention over a flubbed sentence on live television. Comcast says the flub had nothing to do with her being bounced.
"Due to circumstances unrelated to her on-air remarks Tuesday night, Susannah Collins and Comcast SportsNet Chicago have parted ways," Phil Bedella, vice president and general manager of CSN Chicago said in a statement. "We appreciate everything Susannah has contributed to our network over the past year and wish her the best in her future endeavors."
On Tuesday, Collins inadvertently said that the Blackhawks had a "tremendous amount of sex during the regular season." The mistake went viral, landing everywhere from news web sites to the Tonight Show monologue, where it was highlighted Wednesday as the "Freudian Slip of the Day" by host Jay Leno.
Collins, who meant to say "success," immediately corrected herself.
But the mistake put a spotlight on Collins, and that quickly refocused attention on a series of raunchy YouTube videos uploaded between 2009 and 2010. As co-host of Sports Nutz, Collins pushed the boundaries of sports journalism -- and good taste -- with sexually explicit reports and potentially offensive racial stereotypes.
Produced by Middlebrow Media, the 16-video series drifted more toward lowbrow humor, with Collins and her female co-host, Sam Raddock, delivering everything from rowdy man-on-the-street interviews to a dramatic reading of the sexual exploits of former NBA player Darryl Dawkins' from his autobiography "Chocolate Thunder."
You can watch the "offensive" videos here.
Collins previously worked as a reporter for Showtime Sports, the NFL Network and as a weekend sports anchor at WCBS-TV in New York, according to CSN's press release announcing her hiring.
A CSN spokesman declined to discuss the circumstances of her departure.
Which begs the question, didn't Comcast look at these videos before they hired her?
Here's video from her flub from Tuesday: