Chip Caray reportedly won’t be disciplined over accidental on-air slur

In the wake of St. Louis Cardinals’ TV announcer Chip Caray uttering an accidental on-air slur during a promo read Saturday for the team’s upcoming Disability Pride event, many have wondered what discipline might follow. Other announcers, including Glen Kuiper and Thom Brennaman, have lost prominent gigs in the wake of slurs. And Caray’s comment Saturday, where he used a slur instead of “flag,” led to 31 seconds of stunned silence in the booth before analyst Brad Thompson brought them back to calling the game:

Carey did not address the mistake later in the game as well.  That incident led to lots of discussion about what might come next given the lack of acknowledgement during the broadcast. However Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports reported that while Cardinals’ broadcaster FanDuel Sports Network Midwest is not officially commenting on this, no punishment is expected:

FanDuel Sports Network Midwest declined to comment when FOS reached out on Saturday afternoon. But sources said the network is not disciplining Caray, the son of the late sportscaster Skip Caray and grandson of the late legendary announcer Harry Caray. Instead, the network is chalking it up to an “honest” mistake during a live read by an announcer who meant no insult to any viewers.

While there is some logic to that, especially with this seemingly coming from Caray saying the wrong word rather than having an inappropriate conversation inadvertently aired on a hot mic (as happened with Brennaman), networks haven’t always gone that way. In particular, when A’s announcer Glen Kuiper made a seemingly-similar misstep (attempting to describe a trip to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and instead using a racial slur) in 2023, he was suspended and then fired pending a deeper investigation by NBC Sports California despite a quick on-air apology.

Unlike Brennaman, Kuiper still hasn’t received another high-level broadcasting chance. Other broadcasters have also received suspensions or terminations for inadvertent comments, too, so the lack of punishment for Caray was far from a foregone conclusion. But FanDuel Sports Network Midwest appears to have decided that this “honest” mistake isn’t worth disciplining Caray for especially as he caught the issue quickly.