Fox lead announcer Mike Joy got himself into hot water after criticizing a portion of fans on national TV.
Many fans don’t like that there are too many ads and full-screen commercial breaks that prevent them from watching the race.
So, during the final stage of Sunday’s United Rentals Work United 500 at Phoenix, Joy addressed such criticism by making fun of the situation and even hitting out at the fans. He said:
“For all the keyboard warriors I’m going to do this in words of one syllable. The last green flag full screen break of this race comes right now.”
Mike Joy has had enough of the keyboard warriors pic.twitter.com/WHu5sckU0Y
— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthewCFB) March 12, 2023
Joy’s message comes after some days when he replied to a fan saying that commercials are important for Fox to stay in business.
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It worked then but not now. We'd be out of business after two races.
Nascar charges TV nearly $25M per race in rights fees. Add production costs and it takes a lot of commercials each week to try to break even. https://t.co/t60xnqBLlm— Mike Joy (@mikejoy500) March 11, 2023
However, Joy’s words have not gone well with the fans and even journalists. NASCAR Journalist Toby Christie didn’t like the way Joy bashed some fans on national TV. He tweeted:
“As much as I totally understand Mike Joy’s frustrations with people not listening to him and getting upset about it, I don’t think openly bashing a portion of the fan base on national TV is the right flex.”
As much as I totally understand Mike Joy's frustrations with people not listening to him and getting upset about it, I don't think openly bashing a portion of the fan base on national TV is the right flex.
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) March 12, 2023
While commercials are necessary, it is also the right of the fans to complain when they have too many interruptions in the race. As a person with many years of experience, Joy didn’t do himself any favour by acting the way he did.