Thom Brennaman, who has not worked for a major broadcasting outlet since he uttered a homophobic slur in front of a hot mic on FOX Sports Ohio in 2020 while calling a Cincinnati Reds game, has been hired by The CW to call its nationally televised college football games. Andrew Marchand of The Athletic was first to report the story.
As the second game of a Reds doubleheader against the Royals was about to start in Kansas City on August 19, 2020, Brennaman could be heard saying, “One of the f*g capitals of the world,” before beginning the broadcast. He was fired after the incident by both the Reds and by FOX Sports.
Brennaman, 60, had worked for FOX Sports for almost 25 years calling baseball and football games for the network. He had been the voice of the Reds for the previous 15 years and is the son of longtime Reds voice Marty Brennaman.
In the report from Marchand, he says Brennaman told him he had previously spoken with a couple of major league teams about broadcasting positions and six or seven agents, none of whom had any interest in working with him.
Marchand also reported Brennaman’s first game will be the Idaho State at Oregon State game on August 31 and that he will work mostly in the ACC the rest of the season.
