During the fourth quarter of Sunday night’s game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs (which the Buccaneers won, of course), a man ran into the middle of the field, wearing a pink unitard that read “Vitaly Uncensored,” which is a pornography website. Harlan, who was announcing the game for the radio network Westwood One, didn’t skip a beat when the interruption took place, and called the spontaneous sprint down the field as it happened.
“Someone is running on the field, some guy with a bra. And now he’s […] chased, he’s running down the middle of the 40, arms in the air and the victory salute,” he announced. “He’s pulling down his pants. Pull up your pants, my man! Pull up those pants.”
Harlan then treated the man running on the field as if he were a football player competing in the championship game, noting his exact position on the field. “He’s being chased to the 30, he breaks […] from the security guard, the 20, down the middle of the 10, the five, he slides on the one and they converge on him at the goal line.”
As the intruder was being handled by security, Harlan then said: “Pull up your pants, take off the bra and be a man. And the players with hands on hips at the other end of the field are looking at him and shaking their heads, saying, ‘Why, oh why, is this taking place in a Super Bowl?’”
Video of Harlan’s commentary has been viewed more than two million times already, and it’s sparked some back and forth about toxic masculinity because of the announcer’s remarks to “Pull up your pants, take off the bra and be a man.” Some fans have shared their disappointment about the comments, and called them unnecessary.
One person tweeted, “I liked this until he said ‘be a man’ we don’t need the toxic masculinity. Sorry not sorry.”
Another user went so far as to say, “Harlan will get cancelled for telling him to ’take off the bra and be a man.’”
“Kevin Harlan is officially canceled telling someone to ’take of that bra and be a man’ smh it’s 2021 he can be whatever he decides,” a third wrote.
One person commented that they hoped, regardless of any backlash, that Harlan could learn why those sorts of remarks could be offensive to some. “Canceled or not, I hope he and others can understand why saying something like this can be hurtful.”
Meanwhile, other folks anticipated those sorts of responses to Harlan’s comments. At least a few Twitter users responding to a post from Barstool Sports about the play-by-play narration said they were counting on a new cycle of outrage on social media.
Newsweek reached out to CBS News and Westwood One Sports Radio for comment, and did not hear back at the time of publication.
