CBS analyst and radio host Boomer Esiason apologized for suggesting the wife of New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy should have undergone a C-section before Opening Day. Esiason made his "insensitive" remarks when decrying Murphy for skipping Opening Day and using two days of paternity leave.
"Quite frankly, I would have said C-section before the season starts," Esiason said on Wednesday during his CBS radio show, via CNN. "I need to be at Opening Day. I'm sorry. This is what makes our money. This is how we're going to live our life. This is what makes our money. This is how we're going to live our life. This is going to give my child every opportunity to be a success in life. I'll be able to afford any college I want to send my kid to because I'm a baseball player."
Backlash swiftly followed, and Esiason issued an apology on Friday during his radio show.
"I want to say again on this radio show that in no way, shape or form was I advocating anything for anybody to do," he said. "I was not telling women what to do with their bodies ... I would never do that. That's their decision.
"And the other thing, too, that I really felt bad about is that Daniel Murphy and Tori Murphy were dragged into a conversation, and their whole life exposed. And it shouldn't have been. And that is my fault.
"I apologize for putting him and his wife in the midst of a public discussion that I basically started by uttering insensitive comments that came off very insensitive. And for that I apologize."
Esiason said he's in contact with the Mets and has tried to reach out personally to Murphy to apologize.
Murphy chose to use two of his three days of paternity leave, which baseball's Collective Bargaining Agreement allows, to be with his wife after the birth of their child.
