According to MSNBC.com, last week Kelly Tilghman, golf’s first female anchor, was suspended for two weeks after saying that Tiger Woods’ challengers should “lynch him in a back alley.”
Although Tiger Woods forgave Tilghman, individuals like Al Sharpton were not so forgiving. Some may say it wasn’t racist but a bad choice of words. Either way we still strongly believe in the old adage that if you nothing nice to say just say nothing at all.
Sharpton wanted The Golf Channel to fire Tilghman, but we find that comical, considering the fact that Woods has not taken any offense to the comment. We agree with the network for suspending the anchor, but why does Sharpton always want someone to be fired for a mistake?
After watching the clip of Tilghman and Nick Faldo at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, it just seemed to be a mindless statement from Tilghman.
This takes us back to the time when Woods won the 1997 Masters Golf Tournament, and golfer Fuzzy Zoeller made the remark that Woods should not serve fried chicken or collard greens at the championship dinner. He also referred to Woods as “that little boy” in front of a CNN camera crew despite the fact that Woods was 21-years-old.
Ten years later, it seems Woods has to deal with the same borderline racist remarks.
However, we think Tilghman and Zoeller had two separate agendas in making their statements. Overall, we think this whole incident may be a waste of time for Sharpton to pursue.
Priscilla Blow for the Editorial Board.