ESPN college basketball broadcaster Carolyn Peck raised some eyebrows with a comment during LSU’s game against Vanderbilt, as she appeared to use a profane word on the national broadcast while discussing Angel Reese and Kim Mulkey during a timeout.
Listen to the controversial word aimed at Angel Reese
“Did I hear what I think I heard?!” said a comment under the video clip, which made rounds on Twitter/X on Monday night, even though the game took place 11 days before. “That B came out hard,” pointed out another comment. Peck, a longtime women’s college basketball coach, was offering analysis on what she would say if she was in LSU coach Kim Mulkey’s impossible-to-fill shoes during a timeout.
Reese and Mulkey in the center of ESPN controversy
She is a basketball legend in the Southeastern Conference, and her Southern roots showed in the viral clip as her accent hid the fact she was using the word “bench,” not a close-sounding curse word. “As a coach, I say ‘bench, stay in this ballgame,'” she says in the clip, referring to LSU’s bench, which got a warning from the officials for being too rowdy. “Stay excited, stay enthusiastic, pull your team through.”
Peck played at Vanderbilt and went on to coach at SEC schools Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida and Vandy during her storied career, which landed her on ESPN.
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Her misheard comment made more headlines than the game itself, as the Tigers stomped Peck’s alma mater in an 85-62 win. Reese was her dominant self, recording 15 points and 16 rebounds in just 24 minutes on the floor.
Reese is no stranger to being in the middle of inflammatory comments that get taken out of context. Just this week she had to serve as a mediator to help Sheryl Swoopes apologize to Iowa phenomenon Caitlin Clark for criticism aimed at the all-time NCAA women’s basketball leading scorer.
