REPORTEDLY DRUNKEN HUGH DOUGLAS CALLS ESPN CO-HOST A "HOUSE NIGGER"

HUGH SOUGLAS & MICHAEL SMITH

ESPN's "Numbers Never Lie" is currently one person short, after one co-host shouted racial slurs and threatened to beat up another co-host on Friday night.
Attending an event at the House of Blues in Orlando, hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists, former NFL player Hugh Douglas, now an analyst at ESPN, reportedly threatened to beat up his TV co-host, Michael Smith, and called him an "Uncle Tom" and a "House N-----," while intoxicated, according to the Big Lead.

“We are aware there was a disagreement between Hugh Douglas and Michael Smith on Friday. We are looking into the situation,” ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz told Pro Football Talk.

Douglas, a former Jets draft pick, grabbed Smith's arm and the two colleagues were soon separated by security and others in attendance. Douglas was pulled aside by another ESPN staffer and left the party soon afterwards. Douglas did not appear on the show on Monday, but Smith did.

 

Douglas, who will not appear on the show again on Tuesday, has not commented on the situation, while ESPN said it is looking into the situation.

According to Deadspin.com, a very inebriated Douglas had appeared at a speaking engagement of fellow "Numbers Never Lie" co-host Jemele Hill the day before the incident with Smith. Douglas was rebuffed by Hill in his wishes to speak to the crowd after she had finished. He had not been scheduled to speak at the event.

The next night, with Douglas drunk again, Smith -- who was not drinking -- asked the former football player not to speak to the crowd because it may embarrass the former, which seemed to have caused Douglas' outrage.