MMA Fighting reports that Fox Sports apologized for remarks Sonnen made during his Fox Sports Live “crossover” appearance with the Fox crew on Monday. Sonnen attempted to make a pop cultural reference using Rihanna which has gotten him in trouble.
In Fox’s “roundtable” talk with a bunch of random talking heads and Gary Payton, the topic of Floyd Mayweather came up. Sonnen attempted to bury Mayweather in a humorous way by saying he fights a bunch of tomato cans.
And then his go home line:
“I’ve never seen anybody in the history of America get so rich and so famous off of having complete wimps throwing punch at their faces. I know what you’re saying. You’re saying, ‘Well, it’s happened before, what about Rihanna?'”
It was followed by nervous laughter and most people wondering how that line made sense. The Rihanna reference was made with respect to the public domestic violence dispute with Chris Brown. Sonnen’s point, which was lost after the “joke,” was that he should fight Manny Pacquiao.
Fox Sports issued a statement and sent it to Deadspin (which did its usual write-up for its fave fight org).
FOX Sports regrets the comments Chael Sonnen made during last night’s edition of FOX Sports Live. They were an inappropriate attempt at humor that Sonnen acknowledges shouldn’t have been made and he apologizes to anyone who may have been offended by his remarks.
No word on if the UFC will do anything about Sonnen’s comments and I wouldn’t hold your breath.
Payout Perspective:
It was an attempt at humor but even Sonnen should have known that this would not be good. Moreover, in looking at what he said, it doesn’t make sense. Chris Brown got rich and famous over beating Rihanna? Or Rihanna threw punches at Chris Brown? How about “I don’t like Floyd Mayweather, he’s worse than that Chris Brown.” Yes, its not that funny and neither was his on air joke.
Making a funny about domestic violence is probably not the way you want your new network to be getting headlines. With FS1 struggling with its ratings and not getting off as good as many expected, things like this are more of a detriment than a reason to tune in. FS1 has been mixing Sonnen in with the main crew and its worked at times but this episode might just keep Sonnen back on UFC-only shows.
Certainly this off color joke might come under the UFC Code of Conduct Policy under fighter behavior but I don’t expect anything to come of it. In addition, it wasn’t done over twitter.
“it doesn’t make sense.”
“Chris Brown got rich and famous over beating Rihanna? Or Rihanna threw punches at Chris Brown?”
“I’ve never seen anybody in the history of America get so rich and so famous off of having complete wimps throwing punch at their faces. I know what you’re saying. You’re saying, ‘Well, it’s happened before, what about Rihanna?’”
I think he means Rihanna got rich and famous by having a wimp, Chris Brown, throw punches at her face. i.e. domestic violence helped her career.
Nobody is going to care about this controversy except people who aren’t going to watch Fox Sports in the first place.
I agree with Dude. I also don’t see anything wrong with what he said. I don’t see it as making a funny out of domestic violence. I see it as him making fun of two idiots who deserve to be ridiculed. He called Chris Brown a wimp. Should he be protected as a woman beater? Rihanna did gain fame and fortune from the incident. She also took that scumbag back which set domestic violence back. That alone makes it so Rihanna sure as hell isn’t the face of domestic violence. So she too should be fair fame for ridicule. That ho bag used the beating she got to turn everyone against Chris Brown except for herself. Why should she be protected from being made fun of?
To be honest this is one of those things that could help Fox and Chael. Its a borderline comment that people even if offended don’t go nuts over. Like for example saying N word or anything about black people period. This can only get them attention without any real fall out.
They are molding Chael into a regular for Fox sports. They are getting his feet wet in other sports. Something he admitted he didn’t follow but always wish he could find an appreciation for. He is actually very good on those other shows. And tonight UFC Tonight episode was the best I have ever seen. Him and Kenny’s Chemistry seemed like they have been doing this 10 years. It was smooth and entertaining. I never felt Kenny would work out. Guess I was wrong.
Chael is too smart for america.
I could see chael excelling as a nascar commentator.
You want him all to yourself? Then us real fight fans never get to see him. Just you Rednecks!
I love seeing Chael Sonnen make a fool of himself, don’t censor the poor guy 🙁
*Chael Sonnen Typical Joke* followed by crickets, confusion & nervous laughter… great stuff.
He is like Dennis Miller. Just because you are not smart enough to understand the joke or it doesn’t come to you within a 30 minute show. Doesn’t mean he isn’t funny. Chael angers the gullible, slow witted person. HE always has and does it purposely. To those educated to see it, he is as good as any comedian!
I think he knew what he was doing here and so did Fox. I think it is to grab headlines. Why would anyone issue a press release apologizing for these comments in front of almost no viewers? The best programs on FS1 only get a few hundred thousand viewers. There couldn’t have been even 100K viewers for this. I would guess likely 60,000 people even saw it. It hadn’t got any attention on the internet. This was a safe way to be controversial without losing viewers or having to remove Chael. Fox issues an apology and force all the News outlets to talk about it and their network. KaBoom! No press is bad press!