Bomani Jones: Photo Shows Sports Journalist Wearing Shirt That Reads ‘Caucasians’ on TV Show

Mike Greenberg (L) and Mike Golic during their ESPN Radio show, Mike & Mike in the Morning, broadcast on the ESPN set in Miami, Florida on February 1, 2007. (Allen Kee/Getty Images)

By Dave Martin

Dave Martin

Dave Martin is a New-York based writer as well as editor. He is the sports editor for the Epoch Times and is a consultant to private writers.

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April 7, 2016Updated: April 7, 2016

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Sports journalist Bomani Jones had Twitter abuzz Thursday morning after he wore a t-shirt with the word “Caucasians” written on the front it live on ESPN, that looked similar to Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians’ apparel.

Jones wore the shirt on ESPN’s show “Mike & Mike” Thursday, while filling in for co-host Mike Golic. The shirt had a font similar to the Indians’ script and a logo resembling the Chief Wahoo mascot, with the noted exception of a U.S. dollar sign in place of Chief Wahoo’s feather.

Bomani Jones rockin’ the “Caucasians” t-shirt on Mike & Mike. pic.twitter.com/a7KasCbTPd

— Jordan Heck (@JordanHeckFF) April 7, 2016

Shirt @bomani_jones is wearing on @MikeAndMike this morning pic.twitter.com/9gw69nqrrw

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) April 7, 2016

According to Hardball Talk piece on NBC Sports, the t-shirt was made by Shelf Life Clothing.

Jones, who jokingly said he wore the shirt because it was clean, later said he wanted to make a statement about the franchise deciding to drop the design as their primary logo. The Indians have plans to keep using the Chief Wahoo logo, but acknowledge it has been moved to secondary status.

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“We have gone to the Block C as our primary mark,” Indians owner Paul Dolan told Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer on April 1. “Clearly, we are using it more heavily than we are the Chief Wahoo logo.”

Bomani Jones wore a “Caucasians” shirt on Mike & Mike parodying the Cleveland Indians https://t.co/P6lNH1boY2 pic.twitter.com/j19Ilhqa9N

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 7, 2016

According to TMZ, ESPN and asked Jones to cover up the shirt in question. Reportedly, Jones zipped up part of his hoodie in response, though some of the shirt was still showing.

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Thebiglead.com reached out to Jones about whether ESPN had asked him to cover up. He responded with “no comment.” An ESPN spokesperson provided this response to their question: “As the show progressed, we felt Bomani made his point and had openly discussed why he was wearing the shirt, and we wanted to keep the focus to the topics of the day.”

Bomani Jones wore a “Caucasians” shirt on Mike & Mike. ESPN asked him to cover it up as show progressed https://t.co/HUByAw5CJQ

— Jason Lisk (@JasonLisk) April 7, 2016