Ron Franklin, ESPN Announcer, Yanked From Broadcast for Sexist Remarks

Ron Franklin, one of ESPN's best known college sports announcers, reportedly was taken off the company's radio broadcast of the Fiesta Bowl after he allegedly referred to a female colleague as "sweetcakes," and then with a vulgarity during a production meeting.

Sports by Brooks reported Sunday that Franklin, who does college football and basketball telecasts, referred to sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards as "sweetcakes" when she attempted to join in a conversation during a production meeting Saturday. When Edwards took umbrage at the remark, he then allegedly used the term "a--hole."

According to Sports by Brooks, Franklin, who was scheduled to do play-by-play on ESPN Radio's coverage of the Fiesta Bowl Sunday, was taken off the radio broadcast and replaced with Dave Lamont.

The blog reported that Franklin, Edwards and analysts Ed Cunningham and Rod Gilmore were all part of a production meeting before Friday's telecast of the Chick-Fil-A Bowl in Atlanta. Franklin, Cunningham and Gilmore were reportedly discussing the fact that Gilmore's wife had recently been elected mayor of Alameda, Calif,, when Edwards, who reportedly was not part of the original conversation, attempted to join in.

UPDATE: ESPN Has Fired Franklin

"Sports by Brooks" reported that when Edwards did try to join in, Franklin responded, "Why don't you leave this to the boys, sweetcakes?" Edwards reportedly objected, saying, "Don't call me sweetcakes. I don't like being talked to like that," to which Franklin reportedly responded, "Okay then, a--hole."

Edwards then reported the conversation to ESPN management, a member of which confirmed the comments with Cunningham. The network attempted to pull Franklin, who recently signed a two-year contract extension in July to do 35 events per year, off the Friday telecast, but it was too late to find a replacement, the blog reported.

Franklin is currently assigned to call Wednesday and Saturday Big 12 games on ESPN television.

UPDATE: In a prepared statement, an ESPN spokesman said, "We made a late play-by-play change to the Fiesta Bowl radio team. We're not going to get into specifics other than to say adhering to our personal conduct policies and showing respect for colleagues are of the utmost importance to our company, and we take them extremely seriously."