Chip Caray, the television play-by-play announcer for the St. Louis Cardinals on FanDuel Sports Network Midwest, will reportedly not be suspended after uttering a homophobic slur during a live game broadcast this past Saturday. Caray was in the midst of reading a promotion for the upcoming Disability Pride Night taking place at Busch Stadium in which he divulged that themed tickets were available for purchase. Utilizing these tickets for the game, fans would be able to take home a Cardinals cap featuring the disability pride flag and Cardinals in braille.
Caray said a different word while reading this copy, but Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports has reported that the network is viewing it as an “honest” mistake during the live narration. McCarthy cited sources that Caray is not going to be disciplined for this action, but the incident provoked memories of occurrences wherein broadcasters were fired for their words.
For example, former Cincinnati Reds television play-by-play announcer Thom Brennaman lost his job upon uttering a homophobic slur despite not realizing the broadcast was live. On top of that, Glen Kuiper was terminated from his role broadcasting Oakland Athletics games after using a racial slur while describing his trip to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. When Caray completed the promotional read during Saturday’s game, the ensuing 30 seconds of silence went viral on social media before analyst Brad Thompson resumed with the telecast.
Caray has been the television play-by-play voice of Cardinals baseball since joining the network ahead of the 2023 season. Prior to his time with St. Louis, he held the play-by-play role with the Atlanta Braves on television over 20 seasons, including stints calling games on the Braves Radio Network, TBS and Peachtree TV. Caray was also the play-by-play announcer for Chicago Cubs baseball on WGN, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and sports icon Harry Caray. In addition, his father Skip was the longtime voice of the Braves, and he had a chance to work with his father and grandfather during a Cubs-Braves game in May 1991.
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