Yankees announcer Michael Kay rips Orioles front office over Kevin Brown’s statement on broadcaster’s return to booth: ‘It’s like a hostage tape’
- Brown, 33, was banned after making comments on-air ahead of a July 23 match
- He said the Orioles did better against Tampa this year than in previous seasons
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Michael Kay – the New York Yankees play-by-play announcer – has likened Kevin Brown’s statement to a “hostage tape” ahead of the fledgling broadcaster’s return to the booth for the Orioles against the Seattle Mariners tonight.
On Friday, 62-year-old Kay appeared on his ESPN radio show to let baseball fans know he believes Baltimore’s public relations team was behind Brown’s statement, which paired reports on his suspension from late last month to today .
“I’m sure what happened,” Kay said on his show. “But I don’t blame Kevin for releasing that statement, what should he do? Say, “They’re a bunch of idiots here. What they did to me was unfair?” He would lose his job.
Brown, the main play-by-play voice of the Orioles for Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, was banned from game broadcasts after making on-air comments ahead of a July 23 game against the Rays, saying it was team did better against Tampa Bay this season than previous years.
Brown was assigned to the radio broadcast for Baltimore’s series against the Phillies that began on July 24, but has not been heard from since.
YES Network’s Michael Kay – the play-by-play voice of the Yankees – slammed the Orioles on Friday
Kevin Brown, the Orioles’ announcer, returns since being banned from the booth last month
While his relatively innocuous comments were widely believed to have enraged Orioles owner John Angelos, Brown said stories about him “mischaracterized” the situation.
“Unfortunately, recent media reports have mischaracterized my relationship with my adopted hometown Orioles,” Brown wrote Friday in a thread shared on X, formerly Twitter.
“The fact is that I have a great relationship with the organization, and our ownership and front office have fully supported me since 2019 when I first came on board.”
When Kay was asked by co-host Peter Rosenberg if he thought Orioles management had a say in the drafting of Brown’s statement, Kay did not hold back his opinion.
“Of course,” Kay said. “It’s like a hostage band.
“That was a statement that was clearly vetted by the Orioles and their senior vice president,” he added. “I don’t blame Kevin for bringing that out because he hasn’t denied what happened. He said, “Don’t listen to the sound.” The sound is true.
Orioles fans demanded that Brown return to his role at home against Houston on Tuesday
Brown will return in time for the Orioles’ Northwest road game against Seattle at T-Mobile Park on Friday.
During the 33-year-old’s absence from the team, MLB broadcasters from around the country — including SNY’s Kay and Gary Cohen — showed their support for their banned counterpart in Baltimore.
What’s more, Orioles broke out “Free Kevin Brown” chants during last Tuesday’s game against the Houston Astros.
“There’s not a second that anyone who reported that or talked about it believes it wasn’t true,” Kay said.
“He got ripped off the air because he read a statistic that they thought was negative and it was pretty positive… That was a classic case of lipstick on the pig of a situation.
“What should he say?”