UPDATED: Matt Vasgersian should probably stop talking for a little while.
Normally we’ve got no problem with Matt Vasgersian. In fact, I would go as far as to say he is a friend of the site. But this idiocy cannot go without mention. First of all, the whole “this black person looks like a well-known black person” is kind of played out– if it was ever funny to begin with. Secondly, in comedy, timing is pretty important; and Matt’s timing here kind of sucks.
Lastly, I know this appears to be a clip from a “Base Ball” contest, but bear with us. There’s a regrettable football connection before it’s over– followed by uncomfortable silence and then some forced laughter.
UPDATE: From the comments, Matt Vasgersian speaks in his defense: “I am an idiot .. Save the racial stuff which is just flat out wrong, almost all of what has been posted on my regrettably horrific timing is spot on .. It was a bad decision made on live tv and i can absolutely understand how that make an announcer sound insensitive. Bad on the spot judgment. Nobody feels worse about it than I do guys.”
Good enough for us. We will give you a pass on this one, Matt. Just watch out for queasy Philly QBs and pissed-off Denver EMTs who aren’t as forgiving.
Tags: awk-ward!, bannination assured for all Martin Lawrence jokes, yeah we had nothing ready this morning
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April 28th, 2009 at 10:31 am
The Big Lead thinks John Legend is a rapper? That’s unpossible!
April 28th, 2009 at 10:32 am
I bet that guy gets that, “Hey, aren’t you Donovan McNabb?” all the time. It’s really his fault, for wearing that thing on his head. And being a black guy. White people are easily confused. Especially white people who work on TV. Black dudes, do us a solid and start wearing name tags or something, so this kind of awkwardness can be avoided.
April 28th, 2009 at 10:33 am
White guys perform their duties as paramedics like this…
April 28th, 2009 at 10:37 am
I’m surprised Vasgersian didn’t ask, “Does he have a piece of fried chicken under that thing on his head?”
April 28th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Is Matt from Boston?
April 28th, 2009 at 10:43 am
That’s just a special kind of stupid.
April 28th, 2009 at 10:43 am
But on the other side of the coin, all red-haired males with freckles look like Donny Most to me.
April 28th, 2009 at 10:49 am
According to google images, Vasergian looks like Steve-O. Or a mexican.
April 28th, 2009 at 10:50 am
If you slow it down, you can see the exact moment Vasgersians’s joke fails.
April 28th, 2009 at 10:54 am
DUDE. DUDE.
April 28th, 2009 at 10:57 am
fwiw, MLB network is awesome. Assuming you like baseball.
April 28th, 2009 at 10:59 am
That can’t be Donovan McNabb, he’s in Denver and black people don’t like the cold!
April 28th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Herc beat me to it. Well played.
April 28th, 2009 at 11:05 am
That can’t be Donovan McNabb. He’s not vomiting.
April 28th, 2009 at 11:18 am
I thought it was Asians who all looked alike.
April 28th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Black dudes, do us a solid and start wearing name tags or something, so this kind of awkwardness can be avoided.
Asians too…Asians too.
He tells every Chinese take-out worker that they’re a clone of Jackie Chan.
April 28th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Wasn’t it McNabb that ran all the chicken out of that Rochester Popeyes.
http://warmingglow.uproxx.com/2009/04/popeyes-customers-are-clucking-mad/
Vasgersian is an idiot.
April 28th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
The media has been very desirous that a black emt can do well
/Limbaughed
April 28th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Ok in all seriousness, because I struggle with my white guilt in this area everytime it comes up, is it ever ok to say this minority looks like that minority? What if they really do look alike? I have a friend who looks exactly like the actor who plays one of the corrupt cops in Payback, but I’m terrified to tell him that or he’ll think I’m racist.
April 28th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
I call racially insensitive on that!
The best part is that I don’t think his co-anchors realized it was a bad joke at first. I think at least one of them actually thought he was suggesting that Donovan McNabb has a second job, as an EMT, at Coors field.
@Chazz: I think it’s like saying I love you to a lady friend. Only do it, if you’re really, really, sure that the person is going to agree with you and say it back.
April 28th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Is it bad that even before I saw the video I thought he looked like Donovan McNabb too?
April 28th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Well, Vasgersian has worked for Vince McMahon and the UFC in the past so I’m assuming racially sensitivity training was never a big priority for him.
April 28th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
i’ve been told my penis looks like denzel washington
April 28th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Actually, it was me.
I can’t be a QB forever, so when I retire I thought a career in medicine would be good. You know, helping people and shit.
April 28th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
@Chazz – I’ve got the same issue with a dude at work who looks nearly identical to Andrew Bynum of the Lakers. I don’t know him (and he doesn’t know me) well enough, so I just let it go.
April 28th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
I am an idiot .. Save the racial stuff which is just flat out wrong, almost all of what has been posted on my regrettably horrific timing is spot on .. It was a bad decision made on live tv and i can absolutley understand how that make an announcer sound insensitive. Bad on the spot judgement. Nobody feels worse about it than I do guys
April 28th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Hell, even I wish white people would start mistaking me for people so that I could be relevant again.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Matt Vasgersian sounds like all the other white guys.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
@matt vasgersian: DUDE. DUDE.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
How come when I click on Vasgersian’s name is circles back to the KSK home page?
Have I reached the end of the interwebs?
April 28th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
I have a strange feeling that Vasgersian’s comment above will totally ease the heat on him.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
@ G.G. +1, Before I even got to the end of that sentence I was thinking it would for sure end with Ron Howard, also I believe its just ‘Don Most’ now
April 28th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
I wouldn’t worry about it too much, matt… it’s not like making inappropriate comments concerning Donovan McNabb has ever gotten anybody fired
April 28th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Why he has a job of prestige or playing second fiddle to Kevin Costner’s weiner cousin I will never understand.
April 28th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Mo Williams does look like John Legend…
April 28th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Matt, just say some of your best friends are black and you’ll be fine.
April 28th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Are we not allowed to say X black person looks like Y black person? I didn’t know that was racist.
April 28th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
This is exactly the kind of shit a dirty Armenian would pull.
April 28th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
I thought Matt Vasgergian was only the announcer in earlier versions of the Madden games. You mean he really does exist? Mind blowing man…
/takes another hit
April 28th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
I think it depends on whether they actually look alike. For example, if you say that Robert Horry looks like Will Smith, you’re okay.
April 28th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Ok in all seriousness, because I struggle with my white guilt in this area everytime it comes up, is it ever ok to say this minority looks like that minority? What if they really do look alike? I have a friend who looks exactly like the actor who plays one of the corrupt cops in Payback, but I’m terrified to tell him that or he’ll think I’m racist.
+
Hell, I say tell em, probably not like he hasn’t heard it before.
/is black
//goes back to lurking
April 28th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
I was going to make a joke about how all Armenian names rhyme with ‘Armenian’ and tie it to denying the Armenian Holocaust, but I’d hate to be reductive. Or a dumbass.
April 28th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Lando Calrissian is Armenia’s greatest hero.
April 28th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Oh man, ever notice Mike Tomlin looks JUST like that black guy from House??
April 28th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
I think what’s gotten lost in all of this is that the dude did look like Donovan McNabb. Honest mistake.
April 28th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
@ Moni – Anyone ever said you look like Dikembe Mutumbo? It’s uncanny.
April 28th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Gino Tourettsa just made my day (ED NOTE: I’m Armenian)
April 28th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Hey, Matt. You didn’t actually apologize for being a racist asshole. You only apologized the timing, which as it turns out while you were on nation-wide live TV just after a man sustained a potentially serious neck injury.
If you’re a racist asshole at a time like that, when are you NOT a racist asshole?
By the way, I love it when Hines Wald says “lacist” and “Japanese asswhore.” Man, that’s my fav.
April 28th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
If he saw a 7-foot ginger and thought he looked like Todd MacCulloch, would that be looked at as racist as well?
April 28th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
DUDE.
April 28th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
“i’ve been told my penis looks like denzel washington”
*adds that to pickup line cheatsheet
April 28th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
@ Donovan Mcnabb: I can’t tell which floor the irony elevator of your post stops on. The first two sentences read like genuine vehemence that the man is a “racist asshole,” followed by a profession of loving other racist humor… I mean, the fact that you read this site leads me to assume you’re being ironic and trying to point out that this isn’t a big deal, but if that’s the case, you need to work on your comic delivery as much as Mr. Vasgersian needs to work on his timing.
If that’s not the case, then you’re just a schmuck. No, the guy’s not at all a dead ringer for McNabb, yes the joke was pitiful in the first place, yes, the timing was so pathetic it was more painful to watch than the actual injury itself. But the guy was mildly reminiscent of McNabb, and maybe I don’t watch enough EMTs, but I’ve never seen one wearing a cap that’s almost identical to the one McNabb wears under his helmet during games.
Call the guy out for having godawful comic timing, but drop the racist stuff. Christ on a stick.
(For the record, the overreaction to this sort of thing pisses me off to no end. Comparing a white NCAA point guard to Steve Nash or Psycho-T to [fill in name of any of the plethora of white college stars who failed miserably in the NBA] doesn’t raise any eyebrows… nor does that lolcat spinoff site dedicated to people who look like other people… but god help you if you draw a comparison between two black people–that’s indicative of a white hood and robe in your closet.)
/apologies if you were just being ironic and aren’t particularly skilled at it.
//climbing off of soapbox, making dick joke, etc.
April 28th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
The “that black guy looks like that other black guy” thing only works if they actually look alike. Plus, you’d have to believe Donovan McNabb could possibly be an EMT in Denver when in fact he’s still a pro football player in Philadelphia. A pretty famous pro football player. Even I know who he is, and I don’t know jack shit about pro football.
April 28th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
Nobody feels worse about it than Vasgersian does?
Does he feel worse about this than he did about dropping an F bomb on TV or not quite as bad?
Does he feel worse about this than he did about the comments about Cardinals fans that was just a joke with the guy in the truck or not quite as bad?
Does he feel worse about this than he did about “Sloppy Seconds!” or not quite as bad?
Do you see where I’m going here? How many lives do you get on live television before you start to engage the edit switch before you actually speak? Part of being a grownup on live television is that your bosses presume you have that little switch that engages to keep you from saying stupid stuff on the air. Especially when you’ve been on the air as long as Vasgersian has.
April 28th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
I just can’t wait until McNabb uses this as yet another reason to have one of his famous press conferences where he sits there with that sad droopy look and tries to convince everyone to feel sorry for him.
April 28th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
This is a black day for baseball…
April 28th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
As an extremely white gut with freckles, who has passed a bazillion guys on the street who look enough like me to make my mother kiss them and ask if they’re eating enough, I can say that the guy in question looks enough like DM to warrant a joke. Anyone who wants to make it an issue needs to find somethimg meaningful to spend their time on.
Mel Kiper needs an intern. There, go do that. 2010. A cause.
April 28th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Fuck all the analysis, I thought the joke was funny. Precisely because OBVIOUSLY it couldn’t Donovan McNabb. As in, what the fuck is Donovan McNabb doing on the field!?
FUNNY. The only reason it’s not funny is because everyone is so hypersensitive “was it racist? was it not racist?”
Plug in a well known white guy instead. Let’s pretend the EMT looked like John Stewart. If Vasgersian points that out… it’s FUNNY.
The timing wasn’t bad, it just gets all derailed by everyone’s anxious insecurity.
FUNNY. Assholes.
April 28th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
I was at least expecting him to say Willie Randolph. Maybe he’s just envious of Rich Eisen?
April 28th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
@ LaFavre’s Next Retirement
Nah, because I have boobs. And I’m short.
/lack of having a dick joke
April 28th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
@howling fantod:
Your post is too long to read the whole thing and probably makes no sense anyway. The beginning certainly didn’t.
And what’s with all these big words like “irony” and “elevator?”
I did not know there were race controversies on TV. I have never been part of a race controversy. I never even knew it was possible. It’s part of life and we have to go with it. I hate to see what happens when someone says something racist in a pre-game show or during an actual game. You have to settle with a firing.
April 28th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
As Robert Flores would say:
“AWKWARD!!!!!”
April 29th, 2009 at 8:20 am
Maybe he watches alot of Tim and Eric
April 29th, 2009 at 8:23 am
The only part of him that looks like Donovan is the skullcap.
April 29th, 2009 at 8:38 am
If he would have made the comment when the shot was up, it would be bad. The fact he went out of his way to bring it back up…badder.
Is that Mitch Williams with him? That would be a serious Philly bust if so…
April 29th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Anyone who thought that guy looked like Donovan needs to either quit drugs or move out of North Dakota. Not funny, even in the Deadspin “Martin Lawrence” ironic way– just awkward and badly played. It would be one thing if Matt had told a funny offensive joke– but he wasted a strike here.
April 29th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
I hope he gets fired. That’ll teach that motherfucker for saying one minority looks like another. That’s some racist bullshit right there. If you’re going to say someone looks like another person, make sure he is of the same skin colour of you.
April 29th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Is the other commentator a cleaned up Kenny Powers?
April 29th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Does no one actually get it? The only reason it’s in poor taste and that it was bad timing was because he made a stupid joke (and asked to rewind the tape to do it) when they were talking about someone who might be seriously injured. The race part was stupid, but not a big deal
April 30th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
@ Donovan: Dear dipshit. I’ll try to keep this as short as possible and avoid using large words.
My problem with your entire argument is the absolutely batshit-retarded way you and 90% of the talking heads in the popular media use the word “racist.” What he said wasn’t racist, it was at worst racially insensitive, and oblivious to the fact that in his position it was a hideously stupid thing to say for a wide variety of reasons.
We cheapen actual racism when we cry “racist!” every time anybody says anything related to race that makes us uncomfortable, while we overlook–and don’t talk about–the countless occurrences of ACTUAL FUCKING DANGEROUS RACISM that go on every day. White managers promoting or hiring white dudes over equally-qualified minorities, the implications of government policies that attempt to break things down by socio-economic status while ignoring the fact that certain minorities have been relegated to poverty through (intentional or not) more or less institutional methods, along with a host of other things.
And if you’re actually angry about somebody saying anything racist, how the fuck can you even read this blog? How the fuck can you appreciate the jokes here for what they are (good-natured methods of poking fun at racial and cultural differences without–by and large–demeaning those races or cultures) and get your panties in a twist over this? God, eat a dick, you half-witted fool.
April 30th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
two reasons i know it’s not donovan…one we all know that no black man will step foot in colorado…kobe ruined it for them…two…if it was mcnabb, his mother would’ve been in the shot as well.
May 5th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
Mike Tomlin looks like Omar Epps. That’s right, I said it. Deal with my racism..
May 6th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Jeezefrickinglouise…bad timing aside…When Matt did Padres games with Mudcat Grant, they did “Celebrity Lookalike” all the time…all races included…fold that race card already. As Mud would say…”Matt’s a good egg!”
December 30th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Very thnx info and good site all races included…fold that race card already. As Mud would say…
December 30th, 2009 at 11:14 am
demeaning those races or cultures) and get your panties
December 30th, 2009 at 11:19 am
demeaning those races or cultures) and get your panties
December 30th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Is the other commentator a cleaned up Kenny Powers?
December 30th, 2009 at 11:37 am
demeaning those races or cultures) and get your panties
December 30th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Bak bakalım burda ne var
Dizi & Film İzle
December 30th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Mike Tomlin looks like Omar Epps. That’s right, I said it. Deal with my racism..
January 3rd, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Lando Calrissian is Armenia’s greatest hero.
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Futbol ve Güncel Haberler
Dizi izle Maç izle
Spor Haberleri
Canlı maç izle Lig Tv
January 3rd, 2010 at 5:07 pm
hımm thank you
January 3rd, 2010 at 5:28 pm
danke so fiele.
January 9th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
hımm thank you
January 9th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
danke so fiele.
January 18th, 2010 at 3:59 am
Siteniz super, cok begendim ve takipte olacagim. Tesekkurler!