January 1, WATCH: ESPN Host Walks Off Set After Joke “Crossed the Line”

Tensions rose during an ESPN broadcast when an analyst cracked a joke about his co-analyst’s wife.

SEC host Peter Burns jokingly asked his co-host Ben Watson, a former NFL player, if he didn’t “get the memo” about wearing a dark suit for the broadcast. Burns and the other two hosts, Chris Doering and Takeo Spikes, were all wearing dark suits while Watson wore a light blue suit.

“We all went dark today, you’re like Easter service,” Burns quipped.

Watson retorted that he didn’t care “as long as I get a text from my wife that says I look good.”

Burns then quipped, “That’s not the text she sent me.”

😲 Not sure if this just turned into a random bit, but Benjamin Watson looks legit upset that Peter Burns made a joke about his wife. pic.twitter.com/XxLvhgrnx5

— Cork Gaines, Ph.D. (@CorkGaines) November 19, 2022

At that point, the broadcast cut to highlights of the Florida-Vanderbilt game. When the show came back from a commercial break, only Doering and Spikes were at the desk.

“Just you and I here, Takeo,” Doering said. Watson made his way back to the desk, as Doering added that he was “not sure what happened to Peter Burns.”

“Did you have him keep your wife’s name out of his mouth?” Doering asked Watson.

“Huh?” Watson responded, as he sat down and slammed his phone on the desk.

“We’ll see how Peter Burns is with that smart mouth in the second half,” Doering said jokingly.

Burns later tweeted a selfie with Watson, alongside the hashtag “friendship.”

Watson responded to the post, writing, “Moving on. But you still owe [Mrs.] Watson a public apology.”

Moving on. But you still owe Mrs Watson a public apology. https://t.co/nNASqU5A6P

— Benjamin Watson (@BenjaminSWatson) November 20, 2022

Burns later posted a public apology.

“While it was [a] joke, the truth is that I crossed the line, you should never joke about family so that I owe a public apology to Ben & Kirsten 100%,” he wrote on Twitter. “[Watson] couldn’t have handled it better with his humor and class.”

Burns said they were “all good” and he was “proud to call [Watson] a friend & coworker.”

While it was an joke, the truth is that I crossed the line, you should never joke about family so that I owe a public apology to Ben & Kirsten 100%.@BenjaminSWatson couldn’t have handled it better with his humor and class.

We all good & proud to call him a friend & coworker https://t.co/dPw7VdPcaX

— Peter Burns (@PeterBurnsESPN) November 22, 2022

Apology accepted. We are moving on. See you Saturday man. We have some big games to discuss! https://t.co/KbdtQANpv7

— Benjamin Watson (@BenjaminSWatson) November 22, 2022

---

Source: New York Post