CSN Parts Ways With 'Tremendous Amount Of Sex' Reporter Susannah Collins

By Samantha Abernethy in News on May 3, 2013 1:30PM

Comcast SportsNet is parting ways with reporter Susannah Collins whose silly slip of the tongue during a live broadcast of Tuesday's Blackhawks game became national news. She said the Blackhawks "had such a tremendous amount of sex during the regular season," and she of course meant success and not sex. We all saw the video.

"Due to circumstances unrelated to her on-air remarks Tuesday night, Susannah Collins and Comcast SportsNet Chicago have parted ways," said CSN Chicago VP Phil Bedella in a statement. Oh, so what was it? The Tribune writes:

But the mistake put a spotlight on Collins, and that quickly refocused attention on a series of raunchy YouTube videos uploaded between 2009 and 2010. As co-host of Sports Nutz, Collins pushed the boundaries of sports journalism -- and good taste -- with sexually explicit reports and potentially offensive racial stereotypes.

So... we're supposed to believe CSN Chicago didn't see those videos before they hired Collins? Nonsense. CSN hired Collins in September to replace Sarah Kustok. The 16-video series created by Middlebrow Media is not hidden in a sneaky corner of the internet. It's right there on YouTube. She mentions it in her own bio on her own website.

Collins did an interview a month ago with Chicago Now blogger Paul Banks discussing her "newly added level of fame" after Mr. T's hilarious appearance on "Shoot the Puck" with her. In the interview, Collins discussed her experience on "Sports Nutz" and how it helped advance her career, leading up to her getting the job at CSN. Collins said:

In our second season, we did an episode called "Douchebag Nation" (no joke) about belligerent college basketball fans. Deadspin picked up the video, it went viral, and the Executive Producer of Inside the NFL just happened to see it. He called me in for an interview with Showtime Sports/CBS Sports and I landed the gig. I covered MMA and Boxing and was also a correspondent for Inside the NFL and Inside NASCAR. This led to other gigs with the NFL Network, NBC, CBS - it was crazy. I knew if I was serious about a career in the industry, though, I would need to land a full-time gig somewhere. I had been in NYC for 5 years and the thought of returning back to Chicago to cover my hometown teams was always in the back of my mind. A friend of mine had a contact at CSN so she forwarded my reel to the news director and the rest is history.

We've included two of the videos below, and you can head to Middlebrow Media's YouTube channel to see the others. They're not side-splittingly funny or anything, and yes the language is coarse. Below you can watch the dramatic reading of a passage on oral sex in Darryl Dawkins' autobiography Chocolate Thunder and one of their man-on-the-street broadcasts. While saying filthy things, Collins still shows a knack for on-camera work. She maintains eye contact with the camera and speaks with authority. After all, the Downers Grove native did study broadcast journalism at the University of Illinois. We can see how this would help advance her career. But... gasp! she uses swear words! on the internet!

Is the network overreacting? This isn't an off-season staff change. They are dropping their reporter while the Blackhawks are in the playoffs. Well, as Deadspin points out, CSN Chicago Bulls analyst Kendall Gill got into a "physical altercation" with Big Ten Network commentator Tim Doyle, and Gill has been suspended for a year. Not fired, suspended.