There is a resolution in the Damon Bruce saga. Although there was speculation about Bruce losing his job and advertisers being upset with his now infamous rant on women in sports, his discipline was a 2 day suspension. The embattled host returned to his regular 12-3 PT timeslot on KNBR 1050 in San Francisco Tuesday afternoon. He had missed two days of work, his pregame host duties for the San Francsico 49ers and Monday's show.
As opposed to Friday's show when he neglected to truly apologize for his remarks and let loose on the "feminization" of men in sports, Bruce was saying the right things on Twitter before hitting the airwaves Tuesday, saying he was "humbled" and offering an apology.
It's a privilege to return to the airwaves today. Thanks to for the support. Many, many lessons have been learned. Please accept my apology.
— Damon Bruce (@DamonBruce) November 12, 2013
If I've lost your respect or trust, I hope you'll give me a chance to earn it back. I'm humbled by this and focused on moving forward.
— Damon Bruce (@DamonBruce) November 12, 2013
Bruce also briefly apologized at the beginning of his show today. Via Bay Area Sports Guy:
"I would like to personally apologize for all the negative attention that I have brought upon my station, my call letters and my colleagues. It was not my intent to draw such a negative reaction. This was not a publicity stunt in any way. Everything went astray. The segment completely went astray. I do apologize. It’s live radio. I officially touched the third rail, and it has cost me dearly in many ways.
I hope it hasn’t cost me too much with you. The feelings that I expressed and represented do not reflect my true feelings, especially about women. All I can say is that if I lost your respect, I hope to begin to earn it back. I hope to begin that process today.
I have been humbled by this experience. It has been insane. To all those who’ve reached out, let me know that we’re still pals, to all the support that I’ve seen on Twitter, it has meant an awful lot to me. Thank you very much. Thank you to Brad. And you know how we’re going to get back to it, by getting to get back to it. Thank you for being back with me."
Bruce again said he was sorry at the end of his show today saying he let people down and hoping listeners would stick with him. He certainly sounded like a contrite man from what I heard at the end of today's show and not the defiant martyr he made himself out to be before the weekend.
There are going to be many individuals upset with KNBR for what can be objectively described as a very, very lenient punishment and they are certainly within their rights to feel that way. If you'll remember, Tony Kornheiser got 2 weeks for criticizing one of Hannah Storm's outfits. There's no blueprint for radio suspensions and firings, but a neutral observer would say that Damon Bruce can count himself fortunate to host his show today.
That said, firing Bruce was never going to immediately change the culture in sports talk radio. If this episode has taught him a valuable lesson and he's a changed man moving forward, then good for him and second chances. If it's exposed sports talk radio hosts around the country to a world that goes beyond the "I'm right, you're wrong, women are things" viewpoint and made them re-think archaic viewpoints then that would be a positive as well. Already there's been some excellent writing about some of the larger issues surrounding women in sports and the culture of sports that are worth reading coming out of the last few days. Moving forward, the true impact of all of this is going to be whether those changes to the sports culture take place, or whether Generic Sports Talk Shock Jock #2 is the next in line to get on his soapbox and say, "this is going to come across as very misogynistic…"
