ESPN color commentator Bill Walton is under fire for using the one “deplorable” word to describe dwarves that has fallen out of favor during last Thursday night’s broadcast.
During the halftime for Arizona’s defeat of USC, Walton used the word “midget” — not once, but twice — when describing someone on the air, Fox News reported.
“He does not need a little chair,” Walton said, “because he is a giant in a world of shriveling midgets. And speaking of shriveling midgets, what was your name again?” Walton said, laughing at play-by-play announcer Dave Pasch.
The 70-year-old Walton added that he was just having fun.
“What’s wrong with you?” Pasch jokingly replied. Pasch also said he wasn’t sure what Walton “consumed at halftime.”
"I don't know what you consumed at halftime."- Dave Pasch to Bill Walton Ἴ pic.twitter.com/MsuxaVnLnR
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 10, 2023
An advocacy group for dwarves, though, did not think it was all that fun and accused Walton of “stigmatizing” little people.
“Those who use the term midget or any terminology that further stigmatizes people born with dwarfism are asked to educate themselves to eradicate this word,” the dwarf activist group, the Little People of America, said, adding that the comment was “deplorable and inexcusable.”
The organization demanded that the ex-Trail Blazers player apologize. It also asked Pasch to “speak up.”
“Little People of America is asking Bill Walton to issue an apology and vow to use appropriate terminology rooted in respect and dignity going forward,” the organization wrote. “We hope that in the future Dave Pasch will speak up against disparaging language in solidarity with our organization fighting for disability equity and justice.”
Dwarves have recently been claiming that the word “midget” is derogatory and that they prefer “little people” or “dwarfs.”
Neither Walton nor the PAC-12 has replied to the organization’s letter.
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