As you'll most certainly recall hearing within the past week and a half; LaVar Ball has been banned from showing face at the ESPN offices with immediate effect. The reason for ESPN's punitive action stems from a recorded segment in which, Molly Qerim, in her role as a moderator to the panel, tried to change the course of the discussion using the term "switch gears" - which LaVar Ball ultimately interpreted as a signal to make a sexually inappropriate joke of his choosing. Unfortunately, the remarks would come at the expense of undermining her credibility as a professional journalist.
Molly Qerim for her part appreciated the manner in which her employer's dealt with the lewd gesture, an opinion she shared in a brief conversation with a TMZ reporter. LaVar Ball has since done the same, addressing the issue in the public forum. During a recent Drew League outing in support of his youngest son LaMelo, LaVar was apprehended by an ad hoc reporter posing as a basketball enthusiastic. That alone didn't seem to deter LaVar, who then launched into a diatribe about the whole Molly Qerim, in the least apologetic manner imaginable.
"How am I going to be banned? I don’t work for them," opined Ball, when asked to share his thoughts on the matter. "I’m going to banned from ESPN? I got my own show."
"I don’t even have to respond to that on the fact that I meant no sexual intent on the fact that ‘switch gears’ means changing topics to me," he pleaded, after exonerating himself of any wrongdoing earlier in the conversation. "Her mind in the gutter if she thinking something else. Only time I hit on her is if she’s breaking into my house and I mistake her for the Boogeyman."
For what it's worth, from a journalist point-of-view, ESPN won't let LaVar's lewd behavior influence of his son Lonzo's pro career, now with the upstart New Orleans Pelicans following the multi-player trade that landed the Lakers perennial NBA All-Star Anthony Davis. On that note, LaVar's days as a part-time sports media pundit look to be numbered. ESPN is simply too WELL-respected for this incident to go unnoticed throughout the industry.