A CBS Sports Radio host has apologized for comments made about South Carolina women’s basketball player Kamilla Cardoso after there was an irate response from coach Dawn Staley.
During an Audacy sports minute commentary segment, host JRSportBrief (real name Julian “J.R.” Jackson) said he was more excited for the women’s NCAA Tournament than the men’s due to star power of players like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, plus “the giant Brazilian woman from South Carolina that knocks people over.”
JR was referring to Cardoso, who decked LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson during a skirmish on Sunday.
Staley was furious.
“What a morning?!! Never thought I’d hear one of my players described in such an offensive way. I’m not sitting this one out. Kamilla deserves an apology,” Staley tweeted on Thursday morning, tagging CBS Sports and the local affiliate 107.5 the Game.
JR offered an apology soon thereafter.
“This morning on an Audacy Sports Minute, as I was sharing my excitement for this year’s Women’s NCAA Tournament and watching some of the game’s brightest stars, I referred to University of South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso by only her height and ethnicity. I genuinely regret my words, and I sincerely apologize to Kamilla, her family, and the University of South Carolina,” he wrote in a statement on X.
“She deserves better. I will learn from this and be better going forward.”
Staley later expressed that she was appreciative of the fast apology from the local radio station.
Earlier this week, LSU head coach Kim Mulkey fought back against media criticism regarding how she had said that she wished Cardoso had shoved somebody her own size — like Reese — by calling the backlash “a little bit sexist” and downplaying the severity of the fight.
“I’ve seen every men’s game that has something like that and it’s no big deal. We mention it and then we move on,” Mulkey said on her weekly radio show.
“Nobody got in a fight. There were no punches thrown. There was nobody choked. It was a shoving match. Whoop-dee-doo!”
