If you tuned into ESPN+’s Friday coverage of the Arnold Palmer Invitational and heard someone mention, “Colonel Sanders is obviously very angry at Donald Trump, but why?” your ears weren’t deceiving you.

As absurd as it sounds, that bizarre statement actually made its way through ESPN’s airwaves.

A brief audio glitch on ESPN+ during a putt allowed what sounded like an offhand, out-of-place remark to slip through while the announcer’s audio seemingly cut out. This wouldn’t be out of the ordinary, as hot mics have been known to pick up random snippets of crowd noise at golf events—some funny, others not.

But this one wasn’t coming from the crowd. The call appeared to be coming from inside the house.

The origin of this audio and the subsequent video is much more troubling than a simple slip-up.

Strange things are afoot during ESPN’s Arnold Palmer broadcast.

Announcer audio cuts and you can hear — and I shit you not — “Colonel Sanders is obviously very angry with Trump, but why?”

Announcers must have heard it, because they went silent after.

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— Cork Gaines (@corkgaines.bsky.social) March 7, 2025 at 10:35 AM

Business Insider economy and sports business analyst Cork Gaines found the original audio, and it’s a bit more nefarious than first thought. In fact, the Instagram account @presidentialreviews, which posts a lot of pro-Donald Trump content, referred to Rep. Al Green (Texas—D) as “Ghetto Colonel Sanders.”

Green caused a stir earlier this week during Trump’s address to Congress when he interrupted the speech and pointed his cane at Trump, telling the 47th President he hadn’t been given a mandate to cut Medicaid. Following the incident, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson ordered Green’s removal by the Sergeant at Arms.

Since then, Green has faced censure from some of his colleagues, including 10 House Democrats, though he’s made it clear he would do it all over again.

Would ESPN want this audio to be played again? Based on its content and context, probably not.

“What has Donald done to so severely offend this fried chicken icon? Is Colonel Sanders jealous of Donald’s lush head of hair? Perhaps Donald used a wet nap after consuming Colonel ‘Ghetto’ Sanders’ finger-licking good signature recipe. But as the DEI chicken master works himself into a frenzy, the room begins to fill with the pungent odor of deep-fried chicken and crawfish, causing the little fella behind Trump to send security after Ghetto Sanders.

“As security attempts to get ahold of the greasy fast food pimp, he continues to b*tch and whine about Medicare, refusing to pay for his cousin’s hemorrhoid gender reassignment surgery. Honestly, I’m not sure hemorrhoids even have a gender. In the end, the fried chicken pimp is kicked out of Congress and back onto the streets, free to sling greasy chicken to the people of D.C.”

So, yeah, profoundly racist and weird.

It’s unclear how the clip’s audio made its way onto the ESPN+ broadcast, but regardless, it was a deeply troubling moment that slipped through the cracks.

Whether it was poor oversight or a more significant issue, the network should make it clear how this vile commentary made it onto the air unchecked.