During the first quarter of the Monday Night Football game between the Broncos and Chargers, ESPN called on a sideline reporter named Sergio Dipp to deliver a stand-up about Denver coach Vance Joseph.
Dipp’s primary gig is with ESPN Deportes, which was being simulcast on ESPN2 on Monday, and most of his experience comes in Spanish-language broadcasting. So we can probably forgive him for the fact that his report was… well, it wasn’t the best.
It’s hard to tell how much of Dipp’s performance was nerves, how much was the language and how much was just a guy having a bad day. Regardless, there’s nothing people on the internet love more than watching others mess up on TV, so Dipp quickly became somewhat of a social-media sensation.
https://twitter.com/CounterMoonbat/status/907446333119893504
One popular comparison was the college newscaster who made, “Boom goes the dynamite” an eternal meme.
That Sergio Dipp moment is the "Boom goes the dynamite" for the 2010s.
— Johnny Kinsley (@Brickwallblitz) September 12, 2017
Amid all the (mostly light-hearted) criticism of Dipp’s performance, plenty of people came to the reporter’s defense, pointing out that he was speaking on national television to millions of viewers in his second language.
Dipp, to his credit, seems to have taken the whole thing in stride.
https://twitter.com/SergioADippW/status/907441448370491397
https://twitter.com/SergioADippW/status/907452802808545280
Dipp is not the first bilingual reporter to have a difficult go of it on Monday Night Football. Previously, it has been John Sutcliffe who has taken an online beating for his stand-ups, as ESPN has attempted to promote ESPN Deportes on its main English-language broadcasts.
In the future, ESPN might want to ensure that its Deportes reporters are fully prepared for their English-language cameos before throwing them out there in front of live cameras, to avoid another situation like the one Dipp experienced Monday. Then again, Dipp looked to be having a blast out there and seems unperturbed by any of the response he’s getting. So maybe he doesn’t need us feeling sorry for him after all.