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Golfweek magazine, appearing to bow to pressure from the PGA Tour, has fired vice-president and editor Dave Seanor.
Controversy raged this week over the Jan. 14 edition of the magazine in which a cover picture of a noose was used to illustrate a story about Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman, who uttered a racially-insensitive remark about Tiger Woods.
Seanor's name no long appears on the masthead of Golfweek's Webpage. He has been replaced by the magazine's senior writer Jeff Babineau, who replaces Seanor on an interim basis.
SportsBusiness Daily reports that all copies of the magazine were pulled off the floor at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla.
Earlier this week, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem denounced as "outrageous and irresponsible'' the cover picture.
After the second round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship, analyst Nick Faldo said young players would need to gang up on Woods to win, prompting Tilghman to say, "Lynch him in the back alley," after which she looked into the camera and smiled.
The next day, Tilghman apologized personally to Woods, with whom she is friendly. The channel publicly apologized and Tilghman was suspended for two weeks.
Activist Rev. Al Sharpton said she should be fired, noting the dismissal of shock jock Don Imus last year for making a racially charged remark. Imus, however, had a record of similar slurs. Tilghman does not.
In Golfweek's story about Tilghman, it quotes Michael J. Whelan, a former Golf Channel executive who hired Tilghman, saying, "It was a horrible analogy, and she will be kicking herself for a long, long time to come. . . . You have to think about what you are about to say and the ramifications of what could be said. What sounds so cute and funny in your mind comes out horrific."
