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Announcer Makes Racist Comment On Live TV After Di María’s Boneheaded Red Card

By Travis Yoesting May 4, 2021
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Ángel Di María saw straight red against Manchester City, but the CBS announcer should’ve been sent off too.
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Prior to Tuesday, Ángel Di María had played 741 matches for club and country, receiving all of four straight red cards and 80 yellow cards. No one would ever say Di María is a hothead or has a habit of committing bad fouls — even Lionel Messi has more yellow cards in his career. So it makes the racist comment CBS announcer Jim Beglin said after the Di María red card all the more baffling. 

Manchester City expertly defeated Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 to complete a 4-1 aggregate victory in the Champions League semifinals on Tuesday at the Etihad, a superb performance for Pep Guardiola’s masterfully crafted team. Just like in the first match, PSG crumbled in the second half, highlighted by a moment of madness from Di María in the 69th minute.

Di María got into a little scuffle with Fernandinho as the ball went out of bounds. The Argentine reached for the ball with his left leg with excessive force and in doing so landed on the Brazilian’s foot. Instant red card and there can be no complaints about the call. 

Ángel Di María Red Card

Whether Di María was going for the ball or Fernandinho’s tender top foot, it was a foolish maneuver from the 33-year-old veteran. But a 57-year-old made it worse with how he described the moment. 

Beglin, the color commentator on CBS Sports Network in the U.S., blamed Di María’s actions on his “Latino temperament.”

Stereotyping a man’s actions as being a product of his ethnicity or race is textbook racism, and it was shocking to hear such brainless, casual racism on a massive broadcast in 2021. If fans are storming Old Trafford over a shitty owner, when will fans protest just as vehemently over continued racism in the sport? 

Beglin apologized later in the broadcast, saying: “When Di María was sent off, I described it using the word Latino. For anyone whose taken offense to that, I do apologize; I sincerely apologize.” 

I’m not sure if Beglin thought the word “Latino” was the offensive part or if he just didn’t want to say the racist part out loud again, but an acknowledgement of wrongdoing was better than ignoring it, and at least his apology wasn’t interrupted by a home run. But the damage was done. “Latino” was soon trending with “Jim Beglin” on Twitter.

The Di María red card wasn’t the reason PSG lost, but it was certainly the final nail in the PSG coffin. The French club needed three goals in the final half-hour after Riyad Mahrez’s second strike, and with an injured Kylian Mbappé relegated to the sideline, PSG never really looked like it could get one, let alone three. 

So while the Di María red card certainly ended PSG’s chances, it was by no means the reason Mauricio Pochettino’s side lost. That was down to a tepid attacking performance from Neymar, Di María and Mauro Icardi, the absence of Mbappé and Manchester City just being the better team over the course of the two legs. 

Unfortunately, the CBS Sports Network postgame show ignored the moment of the match. Instead of again apologizing for the comment and using it as a teaching experience, the American broadcaster tried to shove it under the rug. CBS Sports employee Aaron West even deleted his tweet on the moment.

Angel Di María Red Card Comment

Until fans march in the streets over continued racism in the sport, whether it’s assholes sending racist abuse online or announcers dropping absurdities like this during a match, soccer will continue to have a racism problem. 

Man City vs PSG Full-Match Highlights (Second Leg)

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