ESPN pulls announcer Robert Lee from covering Virginia football

An announcer by any other name would announce just as sweet.

In what is sure to be a controversial decision, ESPN has decided to pull college football announcer Robert Lee from covering a Virginia football game this season due to the simple fact his name is Robert Lee, according to Outkick the Coverage's Clay Travis.

Lee, of course, shares the same name as former Confederate general Robert E. Lee. Despite this Lee, who is Asian-American, sharing no heritage to the former military leader of the Confederacy, ESPN reportedly believes the fact they share the same name is grounds enough to remove him from covering the Virginia-William and Mary football game this season.

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In a statement provided to Outkick the Coverage, ESPN said they decided to make the switch in the wake of the events in Charlottesville, where a white nationalist plowed his car into a crowd of people, killing one and injuring 19 others.

"We collectively made the decision with Robert to switch games as the tragic events in Charlottesville were unfolding, simply because of the coincidence of his name. In that moment it felt right to all parties. It's a shame that this is even a topic of conversation and we regret that who calls play by play for a football game has become an issue."

White nationalists originally gathered in Charlottesville on Aug. 12. to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. The large group of white nationalists marched with torches and chanted racial and anti-Semitic slurs before being confronted by a group of counter-protesters. James Alex Fields Jr., who was photographed marching with a group of white nationalists, then allegedly drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old paralegal.

Lee has refrained from commenting on the issue on Twitter.