A video of longtime baseball reporter, Marly Rivera, cussing her colleague before being fired by ESPN has been shared online.
Rivera, a bilingual analyst and writer who appeared on ESPN, ESPN Radio and ESPN Deportes, had reserved time to interview New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge on April 18 before New York played the Los Angeles Angels.
New York Times reported that Ivon Gaete, a freelance reporter who was also at Yankee Stadium to chat with Judge, ignored Rivera’s reminders of the appointment.
As Rivera confronted Gaete over the matter, the ESPN reporter was caught on video calling Gaete a “f–king c-nt.”
Rivera reportedly apologized, but Gaete wouldn’t accept. She claimed there was context. Rivera said she has had run-ins with Gaete’s husband, John Blundell, the MLB vice president of communications.
“I fully accept responsibility for what I said, which I should not have,” Rivera told the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand, who first reported the news.
“There were extenuating circumstances but that in no way is an excuse for my actions. I am a professional with a sterling reputation across baseball and I do believe that I am being singled out by a group of individuals with whom I have a long history of professional disagreements.”
Here's video of the Marly Rivera / Ivón Gaete incident from April 18th at Yankee Stadium — while Aaron Judge stood just feet away, signing autographs for a group that included kids. pic.twitter.com/TPDg6SJ496
— michael j. babcock (@mikejbabcock) April 27, 2023
The video of Rivera’s exchange with Gaeta kicked off a probe by MLB’s Office of Investigations. After the league shared its findings with ESPN, the network’s human resources department launched its own inquiry, which culminated in Rivera’s dismissal.
The Washington Post reported that this isn’t the first time Rivera has been accused of passing remarks at other members of the media. Rivera reportedly got angry with another reporter and called her a “White b***h” after the reporter attempted to take a picture of a group of players she was also trying to photograph. In another incident, Rivera called a Latino reporter “fake Hispanic”. Both incidents reportedly were witnessed by multiple people.