ESPN has suspended on-air big mouth Tony Kornheiser for two weeks starting Monday over snarky comments he made last week about “SportsCenter” anchor Hannah Storm’s wardrobe.
Kornheiser took a shot at the 47-year-old host on his sports radio show last Tuesday for her “horrifying, horrifying outfit” during her appearance that morning for the 24-hour sports network’s signature TV program.
Click here for MP3 Of Kornheiser’s program
The 62-year-old yakker, who co-hosts “Pardon the Interruption” on ESPN every afternoon with reporter Michael Wilbon, said during his Feb. 16 radio show that Storm wore “a horrifying, horrifying outfit today. She’s got on red go-go boots and a Catholic school plaid skirt … way too short for somebody in her 40s or maybe early 50s by now.”
He continued his bizarre observation by saying, “She’s got on her typically very, very tight shirt. She looks like she has sausage casing wrapping around her upper body … I know she’s very good, and I’m not supposed to be critical of ESPN people, so I won’t … but Hannah Storm … come on now! Stop! What are you doing?”
Kornheiser, a former Washington Post columnist and “Monday Night Football” analyst, then made a reference to the famous teenage “Catcher in the Rye” protagonist when he said: “She’s what I would call a Holden Caulfield fantasy at this point.”
He subsequently issued an apology on his radio show, which airs daily on ESPN affiliate 980 AM in Washington, DC, the following day — but it wasn’t enough to avoid the network’s wrath.
“I was wrong,” Kornheiser said of his nasty comments. “This is sort of what I do, and I’m sorry for it. … Not the first time and won’t be the last time, but I apologize for it this time.”
John Skipper, ESPN executive vice president for content said: “Tony Kornheiser’s comments about Hannah Storm were entirely inappropriate. Hurtful and personal comments such as these are not acceptable and have significant consequences. Tony has been suspended from ‘PTI’ for two weeks. Hannah is a respected colleague who has been an integral part of the success of our morning ‘SportsCenter.'”
ESPN ran into some sexual harassment trouble last year when baseball analyst Steve Phillips was caught in an affair with another employee.
Phillips, a former Mets general manager who was later fired, admitted recently that he had been treated for having a sexual addiction.