Anchor Tilghman suspended two weeks for racist remark; Sharpton has his say

The racially tinged comments by Golf Channel broadcaster Kelly Tilghman officially became a cultural and political issue Wednesday night when Rev. Al Sharpton demanded that the network fire her or face picket lines, part of growing fallout that precipitated a two-week suspension for the network's lead play-by-play host.

Tilghman, in what was intended to be a light exchange last Friday with co-lead anchor Nick Faldo, flippantly said that those golfers attempting to slow down Tiger Woods, who is part African-American, might want to "lynch him in a back alley."

Tilghman, in her second year as the network's lead golf announcer, made the remark during the second-round coverage of a PGA Tour event in Hawaii. Tilghman became golf's first female anchor last year when the PGA Tour signed a 15-year deal in which Golf Channel broadcasts the first three events of the year, weekday coverage of all tour events, and full coverage of the Fall Series and opposite-field events.

The suspension ends in time for the Buick Invitational on Jan. 24, when Woods will make his 2008 debut.

She issued an apology through the network this week and Woods, a friend of Tilghman, said through his management group that the matter was "a non-issue" as far as he was concerned. But Sharpton, often at the fore in matters relating to race in society, said an apology didn't go nearly far enough and wants to meet with network officials to demand satisfaction.

"If I got on this show and said I wanted to put some Jewish American in the gas chamber, I don't care under what context I said it, the entire Jewish community has the right to say I should be put of this show or put off my radio show," Sharpton said Wednesday night on CNN, before Tilghman was suspended. "This is an insult to all blacks. It's not murder in general, it's not assault in general, it's a specific racial term that this woman should be held accountable for."

Tiger's 2008 debut at the Buick is when Kelly Tilghman can return. (Getty Images)

Tilghman, 38, who ascended through the network ranks to the top of her profession after starting as a low-level lackey in the video archives room, until late Wednesday night was scheduled to anchor all four rounds of the Sony Open, which begins in Honolulu on Thursday. However, 2½ hours after the Sharpton interview aired, she was suspended for by network officials.

"There is simply no place on our network for offensive language like this," the network said in a statement. "While we believe that Kelly's choice of words was inadvertent and that she did not intend them in an offensive manner, the words were hurtful and grossly inappropriate. Consequently, we have decided to suspend Kelly for two weeks, effective immediately."

Before the suspension was meted out, Sharpton said a firing was warranted and that it doesn't matter whether Woods has forgiven Tilghman for her verbal faux pas.

"This cannot just go with, 'I apologize, me and Tiger are friends,'" Sharpton told CNN. "We are in an era now where we see hangman's nooses all over again. I don't know why that (phrase) would pop into her head, but it popped out of her mouth and she should be accountable for it. "This is not about Tiger Woods. It's about the station and using public airwaves to offend people. This is not about making Tiger a civil-rights leader. Tiger has the right to his own private feelings and his relationships.

"This is about saying this woman's language violated the civil rights that you have been entrusted with an FCC license not to do."

Woods and Tilghman have known each other 12 years. She was picked to host a club demonstration with Woods in south Florida when he talked about new products from Nike Golf.

Tilghman was helped when Mark Steinberg, Woods' agent at IMG, said it was a non-issue and considered the matter "case closed."