ESPN national baseball reporter Marly Rivera has been fired after an incident at Yankee Stadium in which she uttered the words “f***ing c***” toward a fellow female reporter over an Aaron Judge interview, The New York Post reports.
Rivera had been a dugout reporter on the Home Run Derby, some ‘Sunday Night Baseball’ telecasts and is an ESPN Radio MLB playoff game analyst.
Bilingual, she brought a different perspective to the telecasts; especially when speaking to Latin players. She also wrote for ESPN’s digital platforms.
“She no longer works here,” ESPN told The New York Post in a statement.
The incident occurred last Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.
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Before the Yankees-Angels game, Rivera and fellow reporter Ivon Gaete had a disagreement when Gaete arrived in an attempt to also interview Judge.
Rivera said she set up time with the Yankee captain and when she repeatedly tried to tell Gaete of the appointment, Gaete ignored it.
During the heat of the disagreement, Rivera said the words, “f***ing c***,” which were caught on video.
After the recording of the incident, Rivera tried to apologise, but was rebuffed by Gaete.
“I fully accept responsibility for what I said, which I should not have,” Rivera told The New York Post.
“There were extenuating circumstances but that in no way is an excuse for my actions. I am a professional with a sterling reputation across baseball and I do believe that I am being singled out by a group of individuals with whom I have a long history of professional disagreements.”
Gaete is the wife of MLB vice president of communications, John Blundell.
Gaete, a freelance reporter, was on assignment for Tokyo Broadcasting, with Shohei Ohtani in town.
Rivera said that she and Blundell have had disagreements over the years, which, in her view, is why this incident blew up and resulted in her firing.
Blundell declined to comment.
Gaete couldn’t be immediately reached.
Rivera had been with ESPN for 13 years, covering MLB — with an emphasis on the Yankees — and worked for both the English language platforms as a writer and on-air personality and for ESPN Deportes.
This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission
