Michael David Smith of FANHOUSE reports today that he was contacted by ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz about the Chris Berman videos that have been widely circulated on the internet over the past week.

ESPN’s official statement, via Krulewitz: “The off air videos are now nearly a decade old and do not reflect his typical workplace demeanor, his relationships with co-workers, nor the contributions he has made to ESPN over many years. Chris has a tremendous connection with sports fans and his body of work should not be judged by a few minutes of unguarded language uttered years ago. We aren’t excusing the language used and will be emphasizing to our workforce the importance of using appropriate language in the workplace.”

We’re shocked the folks at ESPN are responding to this publicly. From a PR standpoint, it’s probably the worst thing they could do UNLESS they know there are more videos coming (they probably don’t know, so this is a hedge, no doubt). Read more…