In response to the blockbuster trade that will send Anthony Davis to the Lakers for Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and draft picks, ESPN opted to invite Lonzo’s outlandish father, LaVar, onto First Take to get his reaction.
The obvious hope for ESPN was that LaVar would say something outrageous and generate buzz for First Take, but instead, LaVar made a tasteless remark to the show’s host, Molly Qerim.
The First Take host, though, is satisfied by how ESPN has handled the situation.
When Qerim attempted to refocus the conversation, LaVar told her, “You can switch gears with me anytime.” The inappropriate comment on live TV was handled gracefully by Qerim and met with a scornful look from Stephen A. Smith.
Come Tuesday, ESPN condemned LaVar’s comments, telling USA TODAY Sports, “LaVar Ball’s comment to Molly Qerim Rose was completely inappropriate and we made him aware of that.”
Qerim also had her own response in an interview TMZ Sports. She said that she hadn’t heard from LaVar or any of his representation since the show aired.
She said:
“I haven’t heard from anybody, but to be honest with you, I shut my phone off after work. So, I was just in chill mode.”
Qerim continued, when asked about her husband, former NBA player and current ESPN analyst Jalen Rose, and ESPN’s response:
“I think Jalen would have just liked if he had apologized to me publicly … I’m satisfied. Yeah, 100 percent. ESPN was really supportive, and I appreciate that all the executives had my back. So, much appreciated.”
She also said that she would leave the decision to invite LaVar back on ESPN programs to the higher-ups at the network. Notably, LaVar made sexist remarks to FS1’s Kristine Leahy back in 2017, but he has continued to get invited back on FS1 programming.
Outside of condemning the comments, ESPN has yet to indicate that it would handle LaVar’s potential appearances on the network any differently.
