Fox apologizes after broadcast picks up explicit sex talk during US Open
During the live broadcast of the 2018 U.S. Open golf tournament at Shinnecock Hills, New York, on Friday, Fox Sports had one of the most embarrassing on-air snafus in the history of sports broadcasting.
Specifically, fans watching Patrick Reed tee the ball up on the first hole were treated to something that was less wholesome family entertainment and more something like what you’d hear at a frat house with a live mic.
Joe Buck announced, “Here at 1, it’s Patrick Reed,” and then things got weird as the broadcast sounded like it got cut into by someone on a pirate radio channel, like the infamous Chicago Max Headroom incident.
Awful Announcing captured the dialogue between two men having an explicit conversation about one guy’s recent sexual encounter; you can listen to it or read it if you like, but be warned, it is not only not safe for work but not safe for human decency.
At first, speculation was that it was indeed a Max Headroom-like prank involving someone hacking into the audio channel on the broadcast, especially since as soon as the conversation concluded, Buck carried on like nothing happened, saying, “Second shot.”
This is broadly consistent with a broadcaster who has no idea what just happened, but if Buck knew, he just had one awesome display of announcer professionalism.
Fox Sports spokesman Arne Pennington confirmed that the sex talk wasn’t a Headroom incident; the audio was indeed coming from a hot microphone on the course.
On Friday afternoon, Pennington issued a statement regarding the matter.
“Today, during the live FS1 broadcast of the 2018 U.S. Open, one of the many microphones on the course inadvertently picked up some offensive crowd chatter. We sincerely apologize,” he said, according to Sporting News.
That wasn’t the only trouble Fox had with its microphones on Friday.
Later in the day, Buck apologized for a case of the broadcast going on the fritz when, during his interview with Jack Nicklaus, the audio cut out, the cameras cut to an aerial shot of the course, and then finally the broadcast cut to commercial.
Could this explain why they had no audio later in the telecast?
— Jeff (@jeffNDfan) June 15, 2018
“The reviews are in, they’re saying we’ve never sounded better,” Buck said. “The audio went out. We apologize for our technical difficulties and our audio difficulties. We’ve been dealing with them all day. Sometimes you’re aware of them at home, sometimes you’re not. This time, you were. Let’s go back out …”
“We’ve never sounded better.” That is a save as good as any a golfer who has hit his tee shot into a bunker and still needs to make par could come up with.
Fox Sports also tweeted that it was aware of and sorry for its “audio difficulties” Friday.
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