Comcast SportsNet Chicago fired sports reporter Susannah Collins earlier this month, according to the sports media website Sherman Report.
The May 3 firing came just days after she botched her comments about a Chicago Blackhawks hockey game. While she was apparently intending to say the team had “a tremendous amount of success,” instead she slipped up said they had “a tremendous amount of sex.” [Video]
But, the Chicago Tribune reported that Comcast SportsNet Chicago’s vice president and general manager Phil Bedella claimed the firing was “unrelated to her on-air remarks” about the Blackhawks.
Apparently, Collins has been controversial before this gaffe. The Sherman Report noted that because the error went viral, Collins’ role in YouTube videos for a series called “Sports Nutz,” which were posted a few years ago, have gotten attention as well.
The Chicago Tribune reported that in those “Sports Nutz” videos, Collins “pushed the boundaries of sports journalism — and good taste- with sexually explicit reports and potentially offensive racial stereotypes.” For example, Collins’ contributions to the videos include “everything from rowdy man-on-the-street interviews to a dramatic reading of the sexual exploits of former NBA player Darryl Dawkins.”
Collins posted statement on her website calling her SportsNutz videos occasionally “off-color and offensive.”