Full Throttle

I was first alerted to this story by John, a/k/a, The Spotter. Subsequent to that I noted the same blurb published by the AP News wire.

In short one of Speed Channel’s cardboard cut-outs (John calls them “gel heads” which I like also) made a racially insensitive remark “on-air that the company found inappropriate.” One note on the story and then I’ll move to the reason for this post.

According to the AP Ray Dunlap’s comments “were aired during a Dunlap appearance on the Speed Channel show “Trading Paint” that was taped earlier this month.”

If the show was taped at an earlier date, then aired with the “offensive” remarks as originally taped who else has been suspended? If it wasn’t a live show somebody, somewhere within the editorial department allowed the segment to air as taped.

Someone, if all acounts are true, has made a poor decision and Dunlap looks to be taking the fall alone. Not good.

In any case, the point of this post is the duplicity shown by both Speed and its corporate master FoxSports. A few short weeks ago Fox indicated it would investigate the very controversial “DillnerGate” episode. (Background here and here)

To date Foxsports and Speed have been silent. That investigation has stalled, was never started, or they found no basis for punitive action against Speed or Dillner. One way or another they owe the fans and those accused of wrong doing by Dillner a public explaination of what happened.

They are very quick to suspend a reporter over what they determined to be an “un-PC” remark, one that could have been edited out of the tape. On the other hand they apparently are more than willing to let another reporter stand by what looks to be a “fake but accurate” report that accused people of cheating without further comment or providing supporting evidence for the original report.

This is another bad decision as far as I can see. Maybe I’m overly sensitive to single sourced stories that are credited to “Mr/Ms Anonymous” as that source. Maybe not. That’s just the way it is.

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