ESPN fired national baseball reporter Marly Rivera after an incident at Yankee Stadium where, according to The Post, she was alleged to have called another reporter a “f—ing c–t” after they both attempted to interview Aaron Judge at the same time.
TMZ has since obtained video of the altercation. And it is pretty wild.
The highlights:
• Rivera does in fact call Ivón Gaete, who was freelancing for Tokyo Broadcasting, a “f—ing c–t.” She did so after Gaete attempted to interview Judge; Rivera claimed she had already scheduled an interview with the slugger at that time.
• Rivera made her offensive comment in front of Judge and a bunch of fans who had paid to meet him at the tail end of batting practice, including a slew of kids seeking autographs.
• Rivera claimed “I wasn’t talking about you” when Gaete called her on it.
• Rivera also expressed surprise that Gaete spoke English after initially speaking to her in Spanish at the start of the altercation.
• Judge kept remarkable poise throughout the entire kerfuffle, focusing on the fans and kids,
• Rivera continued to confront Gaete, based on the footage. Gaete was shown to have ignored Rivera after initially taking umbrage and asking her photographer if the comments were taped. Rivera approached her at least twice after the fact.
• Judge ended up not giving an interview to either reporter after talking to Gaete and politely declining, saying they would do it another day. The footage did not show him interacting with Rivera.
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Added context not included in the video: The incident happened on April 18, which was the series opener between the Yankees and Angels. Gaete was hired to cover Shohei Ohtani’s appearance in the Bronx for a Japanese outlet. Getting an interview with Judge — presumably to get his thoughts on Ohtani — is basic blocking and tackling for a reporter with that assignment. If anyone watches Tokyo Broadcasting and knows whether the interview happened, let us know.
Moreover, Gaete’s husband is John Blundell, a MLB communications executive. Rivera has since told two outlets — The Washington Post and The Post — she apologizes for her behavior, but believes her firing is MLB-driven retaliation for past disagreements with Blundell. ESPN is a MLB rights holder.
In the course of MLB’s fact-finding, the league’s Office of Investigations made calls and received information both about the incident at Yankee Stadium and other reports about Rivera’s behavior, according to people who spoke to the league. The information that MLB collected was then shared with ESPN, according to a person with knowledge of the events. A member of ESPN’s human resources department then conducted a full investigation into the incident at Yankee Stadium. He spoke to several media members, and the company decided to part ways with Rivera. By Thursday, Rivera had disabled her Twitter account.
Multiple reporters described to The Post incidents involving Rivera that they said crossed the line from typical scrapping in America’s largest media market to creating a toxic work environment. Last year, she flipped off another reporter and called her a “white b—-” after the reporter attempted to take a photo of a group of Hispanic players that Rivera was taking a picture of, according to two people who witnessed the incident. In another instance, she called a Latino reporter a “fake Hispanic,” according to multiple people who witnessed it.
“There were extenuating circumstances, but that is not an excuse,” Rivera said in an interview with The Post about those incidents. “I believe these are mischaracterizations of who I am. Disagreements between media members are part of the nature of our business and happen on a regular basis, yet I am being singled out.”
Some thoughts:
• There are disagreements between reporters all the time. But Rivera was completely out of line. Gaete was just doing her job.
• The lack of colleagues and competitors defending her on social media — has anyone? — and ESNY’s own informal chats with pals in the industry would seem to anecdotally mesh with the WaPo’s reporting.
• Gaete’s connection to Blundell has to be reported, since Rivera is making it part of the narrative. But we do so with a cringe. We’re reminded of what Steve Spurrier once said when informed a new South Carolina beat writer had attended Georgia: “Everyone has to come from somewhere.” Gaete has a career on her own merits regardless of who she is married to. Inferring anything otherwise is unfair.
• The Yankees should be proud of how Judge handled the whole mess.
James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @jameskratch.