CLEVELAND, Ohio — ESPN Cleveland suspended Browns analyst Tony Grossi indefinitely Tuesday after he was heard calling Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield a “(expletive) midget” on a hot microphone when he thought he was not on the air.
The comment surfaced on Tuesday morning, leading to a statement from ESPN Cleveland.
“We are aware of Tony Grossi’s statement about Baker Mayfield,” the statement says. “The term Tony used is a derogatory slur to describe Little People. Good Karma Brands will not tolerate derogatory language that demeans others or groups of people.”
Tom Mills, Baker Mayfield’s agent, told cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot that he had no comment on the situation.
Here is a link to a Tweet with the audio of the comment he made while in Indianapolis talking to ESPN Cleveland hosts Aaron Goldhammer and Tony Rizzo (warning: audio contains vulgar language).
Grossi tweeted out a statement at 2:42 p.m., apologizing for what he said earlier in the day.
This was not the first incident involving Grossi and Mayfield. Back on Oct. 30, Mayfield stormed out of an interview session after being asked a series of questions by Grossi, prompting the quarterback to say as he left, “Jesus, Tony.”
The back-and-forth came up when talking about a drive in the final minutes of the first half against the Patriots days earlier. Mayfield was asked about the drive and a lack of urgency, leading to his abrupt exit.
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