49ers Radio Announcer Tim Ryan Suspended After Comments on Lamar Jackson’s Skin Tone
The San Francisco 49ers have suspended radio announcer Tim Ryan for Sunday's game against the New Orleans Saints after he said on a radio show that Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson's dark skin gives him an advantage on the playing field.
Ryan's comments came during his weekly appearance on the "Murph and Mac" morning show on KNBR. During the interview, Ryan described Jackson's ability in faking handoffs during last Sunday's 20-17 win over the 49ers.
"He's really good at that fake, Lamar Jackson, but when you consider his dark skin color with a dark football with a dark uniform, you could not see that thing," Ryan said.
Ryan did later apologize in a statement through the team.
I regret my choice of words in trying to describe the conditions of the game. Lamar Jackson is an MVP-caliber player and I respect him greatly. I want to sincerely apologize to him and anyone else I offended.
The 49ers will be replacing him on the broadcast this Sunday, although who that will be has not yet been announced.
The team also released the following statement regarding the suspension:
We are disappointed in Tim Ryan’s comments earlier this week, and have suspended him for the upcoming game. We hold Tim to a high standard as a representative of our organization and he must be more thoughtful with his words. Tim has expressed remorse in a public statement and has also done so with us privately. We know Tim as a man of high integrity and are confident he will grow and learn from this experience. We have reached out to the Baltimore Ravens organization to extend our apologies and assure them the matter is not being taken lightly.
Tim Ryan played defensive tackle in the NFL for the Chicago Bears from 1990-1993. He has been the 49ers' radio color analyst since 2014. Before that, the South Bay native was an NFL game analyst for Fox TV.