SiriusXM host out of job despite apology for saying he’d rather shoot himself than watch WNBA game

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A former golf pro who has denied being sexist  or “trashing anybody” is out of job as a talk show host after joking that he’d rather commit suicide with a firearm than watch a women’s basketball game.

SiriusXM golf analyst and former Golf Channel commentator Mark Lye, 69, made the comments on Saturday that led to his cancellation while he was in the process of praising what he considers the much-improved quality of the LPGA tour.

“You know, the LPGA Tour to me is a completely different tour than it was 10 years ago…You couldn’t pay me to watch,” Lye said on the satellite radio show called The Scorecard. “You really couldn’t.

“Because I just, I couldn’t relate at all. It’s kind of like, you know, if you’re a basketball player — and I’m not trashing anybody. Please, don’t take it the wrong way — but I saw some highlights of ladies’ basketball. Man, is there a gun in the house? I’ll shoot myself than watch that….”

Listen to the clip embedded below and draw your own conclusions:

Lye confirmed to Golf.com that he was fired the following day. “I was terminated about comments made about the WNBA, which I apologized for starting the next segment,” he said. SiriusXM confirmed to the website that Lye “will no longer be hosting.”

On Twitter, Lye attempted to explain where he was coming from.

“The fact that I can’t relate to WNBA does not make me sexist in any way. All you haters should listen to the whole segment, where I completely glorified women’s golf, which I love to cover. Thanks for listening.”

Lye also responded to the user who posted the audio that led to his undoing:

When another Twitter user and self-described avid golf fan noted that he never heard of Mark Lye, the man himself agreed.

That’s because I’m a nobody…can’t figure out why everybody’s on my case…it was just a joke. Check out Happy Gilmore…I was the one in the gold jacket. Get a sense of humor.”

Lye also insisted that his remarks didn’t constitute a fireable offense and that a double-standard might be in play.

In an October 2018 interview, National Basketball Association commissioner Adam Silver admitted that the WNBA loses about $10 million every year. The women’s league reportedly requires an NBA subsidy to stay in business.

“The WNBA has struggled to increase franchise values, attendance is lagging and media rights fees have not increased exponentially like in other leagues,” ESPN reported in October 2021, but the article also explained that the league’s commissioner Cathy Engelbert wants to change all that with a five-year plan “to persuade corporate America that the WNBA is more than the NBA’s ‘little sister.'”

Lye played on the PGA Tour for about 18 years and has two tournament wins.

For what it’s worth, Lye’s Twitter timeline, which is not particularly active until now anyway, appears to indicate that he leans conservative.

Amidst the feedback from what he described as “haters,” which he claims included some death threats, the latter which he said is “how cancel culture works,” Lye is also receiving some support on social media:

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