Former NASCAR pit reporter slammed for | Sports News

Former NASCAR pit reporter John Kernan ruthlessly slammed the present state of the Cup Series and Leigh Diffey’s commentary in a social media post he admitted himself was “xenophobic”.

In latest years, Diffey — who just lately gave Carson Hocevar a new nickname — has risen by the ranks during the last decade en path to turning into NBC Sports’ lead play-by-play announcer for motorsports. Last August, the Australian-American pundit was tasked with calling the NASCAR playoffs following a profitable stint on the Olympics.

Not everybody enjoys listening to Diffey on the airwaves, nevertheless. On Monday, Kernan voiced his disapproval of the 54-year-old just because of his accent and distinctive sound. “I think I’m done with NASCAR,” the longtime ESPN host wrote. “After further review stage racing SUCKS! And I’m sure Leigh Diffey is a great guy but, if I want to hear that accent, I’ll watch Formula 1. Sorry, guess I’m xenophobic.”

Taking to the remark part, droves of NASCAR followers swiftly rushed to the protection of Diffey whereas blasting Kernan for his offensive remarks. “I hope this post was somehow influenced by alcohol or some other mind altering substance because if this is really how you feel with a clear mind, you need to work on yourself,” one X person wrote. “@leighdiffey clearly loves his job and brings it hard every race. More than I can say for others.”

Another added, “Yikes, I thought Diffey was great. Called the racing on the track and built excitement. Not liking someone over their accent is about as shallow as it gets. Don’t dive into your own pool John, it’s an inch deep,” whereas a third chimed in: “Damn, what a pathetic viewpoint here. I do agree about stages though, really wish they didn’t throw cautions for them. I’m fine with points being awarded though. But to s— on Leigh, man, what a bad take.”

In response to the fierce wave of backlash his post obtained, Kernan doubled down on his opinion. “To my ear Leigh’s accent doesn’t go well with NASCAR. No I’m not giving up because of him. I hate what they’ve done to the sport with stage racing,” he mentioned. “I just don’t think his accent goes with NASCAR. Just my opinion.”

It seems as if Kernan isn’t the one one who’s sadly taken difficulty with Diffey’s accent. While making an look on the ‘Off Track with Hinch and Rossi’ podcast, he revealed that his cadence was the rationale why TNT opted to not deliver him on as a play-by-play commentator back in 2010.

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“I had a chance to audition for a NASCAR play-by-play job on Turner,” Diffey recalled. “I thought, ‘I’m just going to come in do like five minutes of commentary. They had their full production team there. … They made me call about 150 laps.

“Anyway, it went really, really well. I learned many years later, that um … how do I say this politely? I think that I did get the job, but ultimately I didn’t get the job, because the big, big boss at Turner didn’t prefer to have an accent calling the Cup races.”