Rob Parker suspended 30 days for comments about RGIII’s race

Keegan’s statement reads:

ESPN re-aired the episode of First Take with Parker’s comments later in the day, hours after his words stirred up a public outcry.

Following a predictable course of events, Rob Parker issued an apology on Wednesday following his remarks last week in which he questioned RGIII’s blackness. His future with ESPN has yet to be decided.

Here’s the text of Parke’s apology:

One week, a writer essentially says that Colin Kaepernick’s tattoos make him look like a black convict QB and it’s a shame because he seems so white and Tebow-ish, the next week RGIII is not black enough because he’s marrying a white girl. Just another fun sports month in post-racial America!

But we’re not here to join in the crusade against Rob Parker, or even what he said. Not exactly. When someone wrote that Kaepernick tattoo column, I said this:

Parker made racially charged remarks about RGIII during a Thursday appearance on First Take. He questioned the rookie quarterback’s blackness, asking if RGIII was a “brother or is he a cornball brother.”

The on-air contributor went on to add:

ESPN contributor and Saturday First Take host Rob Parker stirred up controversy with racially-charged remarks about Washington Redskins quarterback RGIII on Thursday afternoon. The network issued a response to Parker’s comments hours later.

Parker said “is he a brother or is he a cornball brother,” among other things. Asked on the air about his “cornball brother” comment, Parker responded:

“Is he a brother, or is he a cornball brother,” Parker asked. “I keep hearing these things. We all know he has a white fiancée. There was all this talk about he’s a Republican.”

Parker’s questioning of whether or not RGIII was “one of us” even made Stephen A. Smith a little squeamish. “I’m uncomfortable with where we just went,” Smith said.