81-Year-Old Inauguration Announcer Charles Brotman ‘Heartbroken’ To Be Dumped by Trump
Image by Getty Images
By Dave Goldiner January 9, 2017
Charles Brotman has been the announcer at every presidential inauguration since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1957.
But Donald Trump has decided to go in a different direction, leaving the 81-year-old Brotman out in the cold, CNN reported.
Brotman, who was once the voice of the Washington Senators baseball team, told reporters he was “heartbroken” and “destroyed” by the decision to replace him.
“I’ve been doing this for 60 years,” he told WTLA, a Washington ABC station.
A Trump transition spokesman said Brotman, who is Jewish, will serve as “announcer chairman emeritus.”
So who’s replacing Brotman?
The Trump team has settled on Steve Ray, 58, a freelance announcer who has worked with Major League Baseball’s Washington Nationals.
“From my point of view, I am not filling his shoes, I’m not taking his place,” Ray told The Washington Post. “I just happen to be the guy who’s next.”
Did you know that only 2% of Forward readers donate to support our nonprofit newsroom? That 2% make it possible for millions to read the Forward without a paywall or subscription — removing any barriers to the full and fair Jewish story.
But while the Forward is free to read, it isn’t free to produce. Big stories — like deep dives into the antisemitism data, political scoops or reporting trips to college campuses — take months of research and fact-checking. All while we keep you informed of what you need to know each day.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Forward Publisher & CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
