Statement From Whit Bazemore

[Deby]

I was not making an inappropriate gesture to anyone. I was telling a young fan to wait a minute while I went back into the trailer to retrieve a Sharpie. If you study the TV footage in slow motion you can see that it is clearly my index finger. It does look suspect in real time, but I would never flip someone off in the presence of fans, especially young ones, who had started to crowd around when I walked out behind the car to pack the parachute. Plus, I do not know Scott Kalitta well enough to make that kind of gesture, even jokingly, and I had no reason to do it anyway.

I am extremely disappointed in ESPN's lack of discretion to air something that is so misleading.

Whit Bazemore