Doug Gottlieb apologizes for providing his ‘white man’s perspective’

CBS Sports’ Doug Gottlieb set off a firestorm on Twitter Thursday with an attempted joke he later apologized for.

During the network’s pregame show for NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 coverage with Greg Gumbel, Greg Anthony, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Steve Smith, Gottlieb was asked for an opinion, and responded, “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.”

Gottlieb apologized in a statement through CBS, saying “It was not a smart thing to say and I apologize.”

That didn’t stop Charles Barkley from choosing to admonish the masses a little later. “I know this has nothing to do with the game, I want to say something about Doug Gottlieb,” Barkley said. “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.”

Gottlieb will be back on CBS Friday for the network’s studio show as Sweet 16 coverage continues.

The video of Gottlieb’s original comment is below:

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