According to Fox Sports, former ESPN commentator Doug Adler suffered a heart attack stemming from the fallout of his firing from the network.
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"Doug is seeing physical deterioration from the stress related to this incident. He called Clay Travis from the hospital, and said that his doctor has linked the firing at ESPN to this incident via the stress it has created."
The incident refers to Adler being removed from ESPN's Australian Open coverage team following his remarks about Venus Williams during her second round match, which were construed as having racist undertones.
Adler was later fired for his remarks, where he used the term "guerrilla effect" or "gorilla effect" to describe Williams' aggressive play in the match. His choice of words, however, spawned a backlash on Twitter with many who heard the broadcast calling for him to be fired for what they perceived as him comparing Williams to a gorilla.
Doug Adler got fired from ESPN for saying Venus Williams put the "guerrilla effect" on, because people misheard it as "gorilla." pic.twitter.com/rgXlPBNVRz
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) January 22, 2017
For his part, Adler, a former professional tennis player himself, said he was referring to Williams tactics on the court and "simply and inadvertently chose the wrong word to describe her play."
In an email statement to BET.com, the network said Adler should have chosen his words more wisely, and also confirmed has been removed from further broadcasts of the tournament.
"During an Australian Open stream on ESPN3, Doug Adler should have been more careful in his word selection," the statement read. "He apologized and we have removed him from his remaining (Australian Open) assignments."
Former ESPN tennis analyst @dougadlertennis sued @espn in LA today for firing him for using term “guerrilla effect.” Bravo.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) February 14, 2017
Opening paragraph of @dougadlertennis lawsuit against @espn. I think he’ll win. Fascinating case. pic.twitter.com/lWqhvNOLRw
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) February 14, 2017
Iconic "guerrilla" tennis ad from Nike featuring Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi: https://t.co/fLDsVqSC50
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) January 25, 2017
Yes, he says he's used the guerrilla term dozens of times over the past ten years on ESPN. Listen to him now on https://t.co/qXatC0u9cd https://t.co/4xqkLUqW4K
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) January 25, 2017
Here's to hoping for a full recovery for Adler.
