CBS sports analyst Doug Gottlieb made a poor attempt at lightening up the mood among his fellow analysts Thursday night before kicking off coverage of the NCAA's Sweet 16.
Gottlieb, the lone white guy, was flanked by Greg Gumbel, Greg Anthony, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley when he said, "I don't know why you guys ask me; I'm just here to bring diversity to this set, give kind of the white man's perspective." The joke fell flat on the broadcast and caused a stir on Twitter, prompting Gotlieb to issue an apology through CBS, saying, "It was not a smart thing to say and I apologize."
The joke wasn't funny, but offensive might be a stretch. Considering that Gottlieb is indeed white, and thus added to the crew's diversity, he wasn't lying.
Read more at the Associated Press.
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Jozen Cummings is the author and creator of the popular relationship blog Until I Get Married, which is currently in development for a television series with Warner Bros. He also hosts a weekly podcast with WNYC about Empire called Empire Afterparty, is a contributor at VerySmartBrothas.com and works at Twitter as an editorial curator. Follow him on Twitter.