Suspended Cincinnati Reds broadcaster Thom Brennaman resigns

CINCINNATI — Thom Brennaman, who was suspended last month after using an anti-gay slur during the Cincinnati Reds' game against the Kansas City Royals, has resigned, the broadcaster told WCPO in an email Friday.

“My family and I have decided that I am going to step away from my role as the television voice of the Cincinnati Reds,” Brennaman wrote to the television station. “I would like to thank the Reds, Reds fans and the LGBTQ community for the incredible support and grace they have shown my family and me.”

Brennaman, 57, who has called major league baseball games for 33 years and has been with the Reds since 2006, has been suspended since the Aug. 19 incident. He had been with the Reds since 2006.

“I have been in this profession that I love for 33 years,” he wrote. “It is my hope and intention to return. And if I’m given that opportunity, I will be a better broadcaster and a much better person.”

The incident happened when the broadcast was returning from a commercial break before the top of the seventh inning in the first game of a doubleheader against Kansas City Royals. An off-camera Brennaman described an unknown city as “one of the (expletive) capitals of the world."

Fox Sports Ohio later clarified that the audio only went out to viewers streaming the game, not on over-the-air television, WCPO reported.

Brennaman apologized later in the second game before leaving the broadcast booth.

“I made a comment earlier tonight that I guess went out over the air that I am deeply ashamed of,” Brennaman said moments after the incident. “If I have hurt anyone out there, I can’t tell you how much I say from the bottom of my heart, I’m so very, very sorry.”

Cox Media Group