NBC suspends hockey analyst Jeremy Roenick for making ‘inappropriate comments’ about his co-workers

NBC Sports on Monday indefinitely suspended hockey analyst Jeremy Roenick without pay “for making inappropriate comments about his co-workers,” a spokesman said.

In an appearance Thursday on Barstool Sports’ Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, Roenick and the hosts engaged in a free-flowing conversation about Roenick’s co-workers, Kathryn Tappen and Patrick Sharp.

Roenick said if he, his wife and Tappen were “going to bed together … that would really be good, but it’s never going to happen.” Of Sharp, Roenick said he was “so beautiful.”

NBC, through the spokesman, declined to comment further. Roenick, a former National Hockey League player, couldn’t be reached on Monday.

Tappen, in a statement sent through an NBC spokesperson, said the comments were “unacceptable.”

“While Jeremy and I continue to be good friends, what he said was unacceptable, especially among workplace colleagues. I do not condone his comments,” she said.

‘I was the king of Portugal’

When asked during the podcast about a trip he took this past summer to Portugal with his wife and Tappen, Roenick recounted a story about the vacation.

“I was the king of Portugal,” Roenick said. “When you walk into every place and you have two blonde bombshells on each side … your chest pops out a lot more.”

He said a woman approached him, his wife and Tappen when they were swimming in the hotel pool and asked if the two women were with him. Roenick said he replied, “yes, they are.”

“And then Kathryn says, ‘Will you shut up?’ She starts yelling at me,” Roenick said. “I play it off like, you know, we’re going to bed together every night, the three of us.”

“Now, if it really came to fruition that would really be good, but it’s never going to happen,” he said.

Roenick said his wife and Tappen, who are close friends, “scream and yell at me, but listen, it’s worth the yelling. There’s no question,” Roenick said.

Roenick went on to praise Tappen, saying she is “one of the most professional sports personalities that I know.”

“She is as prepared as anyone. … She wants people to respect her for her knowledge of sports, not just [be]cause she’s a pretty face,” Roenick said.

“She is true blue one of my favorite people in the world, and I’m lucky that I’m next to her, and she’s a good friend of mine,” he said.

‘I wouldn’t say no right away’

Later, the conversation turned to Sharp, his looks, how well prepared he was and whether Roenick would sleep with him.

”He is so beautiful. I’d have to think about it if he asked me,” Roenick said.

“Oh God, yeah,” one host said.

“I wouldn’t say no right away,” Roenick said.

Roenick said Sharp, a former teammate, “is one of the greatest, greatest, greatest guys on the planet.”

Later in the podcast, Roenick said he tries to be careful of the things he says “because of my boss … and because of NBC.”

Roenick played 20 seasons for five NHL teams. He retired in 2009.

In 2010, he joined NBC Sports as a studio analyst. Roenick serves as a studio analyst for NBC Sports Group’s NHL coverage on NHL Live and NHL Overtime, NBCSN’s pre-game and post-game shows, according to his NBC bio. Roenick also served as a men’s and women’s Olympic hockey studio analyst at the last three Winter Olympics, according to his bio.