ESPN cuts ties with Colin Cowherd after his remarks about Dominicans

Colin Cowherd, who will be joining Fox Sports later this year, is off the air at ESPN because of derogatory remarks he made Thursday about baseball players from the Dominican Republic.

ESPN released a statement Friday afternoon saying Cowherd would no longer appear on any of their broadcasts.

“Colin Cowherd’s comments over the past two days do not reflect the values of ESPN or our employees,” ESPN said in a statement. “Colin will no longer appear on ESPN.”

Cowherd had said during his radio show on Thursday that baseball was not a complicated sport because approximately a third of the players are from the Dominican Republic, which he said has “not been known ... for world-class academic abilities.”

In follow-up comments on Friday’s show regarding his remarks, Cowherd stated: “I could’ve made the point without using one country, and there’s all sorts of smart people from the Dominican Republic. I could’ve said a third of baseball’s talent is being furnished from countries with economic hardships, therefore educational hurdles. For the record, I used the Dominican Republic because they’ve furnished baseball with so many great players.”

Major League Baseball officials and the players’ union condemned Cowherd’s comments and said he should apologize to Dominican players.

Cowherd did issue an apology on Twitter.

“I did not intend to offend anyone w my comments,” he tweeted. “I realize my choice of words was poor and not reflective of who I am. I am sorry.”