Morris did not give a very good apology, and it more sounded like "sorry if you were offended." Below is the video of the incident.
Tigers announcer mocks Asian accent when discussing Shohei Ohtani, then gives trash apology pic.twitter.com/l2A5vnUaDj
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Morris has been suspended indefinitely by his employer, Bally Sports Detroit.
"Bally Sports Detroit is extremely disappointed with the remarks analyst Jack Morris made during last night's Tigers game," the network said in a statement. "Jack has been suspended indefinitely from Tigers broadcasts and will be undergoing bias training to educate him on the impact of his comments and how he can be a positive influence in a diverse community. We have a zero-tolerance policy for bias or discrimination and deeply apologize for his insensitive remark."
With Ohtani at-bat, Morris mocked the Asian accent and said, "Be very, very careful." But his apology wasn't that great.
"Well folks, Shohei Ohtani is coming to the plate and it's been brought to my attention, and I sincerely apologize if I offended anybody, especially anybody in the Asian community for what I said about pitching and being careful to Shohei Ohtani. I did not intend for any offensive thing and I apologize if I did. I certainly respect and have the utmost respect for this guy and don't blame a pitcher for walking him."
The Athletic then approached Ohtani and asked how he had felt about it:
"I did see the footage and I heard it. Personally, I'm not offended and I didn't take anything personally."
Morris was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018. He was a pithcer for the Tigers from 1977-1990.
