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Deshaun Watson was given $230 million to, as we have come to learn, defend himself in court against multiple accusations of sexual harassment and assault and eventually play football once his 11-game suspension is up.
Watson was absent on Thursday, September 22, for the Cleveland Browns' Thursday Night Football matchup against their AFC North divisional rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, serving the third game of his suspension. But the quarterback's name wasn't missing from the broadcast.
In response to sideline reporter Kaylee Hartung's intel during the second quarter of Cleveland's eventual 29-17 victory over Pittsburgh, play-by-play man Al Michaels made a bizarre comment on the Amazon Prime broadcast.
"Kaylee, if $230 million guaranteed doesn’t motivate you to do the things you need to do, then I give up.”
This greatly upset several names in sports journalism. ESPN senior writer Don Van Natta Jr. was beyond displeased that the story was framed from the perspective of the billionaire owner being disappointed that Watson wasted their money by not being on the field rather than from the standpoint of sexual assault victims:
"Al Michaels managed to breezily run through 'the controversial' Deshaun Watson scandal without mentioning the victims. But Michaels did say the owners are *not pleased* by Watson’s unprecedented $230 million guaranteed contract because billionaires feeling put out is the story."
Tyler Greever, an anchor from ABC's local Louisville affiliate, couldn't believe that Watson's misconduct against over 20 women wasn't mentioned a single time when going over Watson's suspension timeline:
"This Thursday Night Football broadcast just went through Deshaun Watson’s whole suspension timeline and didn’t mention a detail about him sexually assaulting 20+ women. And Al Michaels referenced his contract as a way to motivate him to 'do what you need to do.' Garbage."
Al Michaels' Deshaun Watson comment isn't his first gaffe on air
Al Michaels has had a history of making offensive flubs on the air before. Last year, Michaels brought up Antonio Brown's "past issues" during a Buccaneers-Cowboys Sunday Night Football broadcast but never said what those issues were. Brown was accused of sexual assault by a former trainer. Then, in 2017 during an October 15 SNF broadcast, Michaels compared the New York Giants to Harvey Weinstein.
This latest comment falls more in line with the Antonio Brown comment last season, but it's somewhat shocking Michaels even got away with his Giants comment during the height of the #MeToo movement.
