{"id":9087,"date":"2015-10-12T06:00:34","date_gmt":"2015-10-12T11:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=9087"},"modified":"2015-10-12T06:11:51","modified_gmt":"2015-10-12T11:11:51","slug":"comcast-sportsnet-drops-aiyana-cristal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2015\/10\/12\/comcast-sportsnet-drops-aiyana-cristal\/","title":{"rendered":"Comcast SportsNet drops Aiyana Cristal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Aiyana<\/a>

<\/a> Aiyana Cristal<\/p><\/div>\n

Aiyana Cristal, the Comcast SportsNet Chicago<\/a> reporter who was at the center of a social media controversy<\/a> earlier this year, has left the regional sports network.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter two years of positive contributions, Aiyana Cristal is no longer part of our on-air team,\u201d a Comcast SportsNet spokesman said in a statement. \u201cWe appreciate the hard work and professionalism she brought to her role at CSN and wish her the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cristal did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

\"Jen<\/a>

Jen Lada<\/p><\/div>\n

Sources said Comcast SportsNet chose not to renew Cristal\u2019s contract, which was up in early September. The network is believed to be close to hiring two new reporters to replace Cristal and Jen Lada, who resigned<\/a> to join ESPN in August.<\/p>\n

Cristal was the subject of an exchange on Twitter last March between Dan Bernstein and Matt Spiegel, two hosts from CBS Radio sports\/talk WSCR AM 670.<\/a> \u201cI have no rooting interest in her work, but enjoy her giant boobs,\u201d Bernstein tweeted. Spiegel replied: \u201cI am improbably distracted from them by her professional discomfort. It\u2019s a crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both hosts apologized the next day, but not before their series of tweets went viral and were condemned as \u201csexist, degrading and wholly unprofessional.\u201d <\/a>Comcast SportsNet rose to Cristal\u2019s defense, calling the matter \u201ca disappointing and unfortunate situation.\u201d Others expressing outrage included the\u00a0Association for Women in Sports Media and the Association for Women Journalists-Chicago, which said the apologies were \u201ca necessary first step, [but] they simply do not go far enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cristal responded to what she called the \u201ccyberbullying attack\u201d with a statement that read in part: \u201cThis incident serves as a gross reminder that women continue to fight every day to be treated equally. My female colleagues share my frustration in knowing the sports industry presents us with challenges of equality in an arena that if often filled with misogyny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cristal joined Comcast SportsNet in September 2013 from WPLG-TV, the ABC affiliate in Miami. A native of Tacoma, Washington, she graduated from Georgia State University with a degree in broadcast journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aiyana Cristal, the Comcast SportsNet Chicago reporter who was at the center of a social media controversy earlier this year, has left the regional sports network. \u201cAfter two years of positive contributions, Aiyana Cristal is no longer part of our on-air team,\u201d a Comcast SportsNet spokesman said in a statement. \u201cWe appreciate the hard work... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9087"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9087"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9095,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9087\/revisions\/9095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}