MLS announcer Taylor Twellman has been cleared by a league investigation following accusations he had a physical altercation with a staffer in the booth during a broadcast last month.
According to a league spokeswoman, Twellman did make physical contact with the colleague, but only in an attempt to get the person’s attention without disrupting the broadcast.
‘After this review, MLS determined that this was not a physical altercation, but that Twellman made incidental contact with the member of the production crew in an effort to communicate with him without audibly interrupting the live broadcast,’ read the statement provided to DailyMail.com.
As first reported by The Athletic, the incident allegedly involved Twellman and an audio engineer from Program Productions – a Miami-based production house – during an Eastern Conference quarterfinals matchup between Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami and Atlanta United on October 25th.
In a match plagued by audio issues on the Apple TV broadcast, Twellman was said to have made physical contact with the audio engineer.
Taylor has been cleared by a league investigation into claims of a physical altercation
Since then, Twellman called Game 2 of the series but was conspicuously absent last weekend for Game 3. According to The Athletic, the production assistant filed a union grievance regarding the alleged October 25 incident between Games 2 and 3 of the series. Ultimately color commentator Danny Higginbotham replaced Twellman in the third game.
Program Productions staff has not responded to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
‘Following the Atlanta United at Inter Miami match on Oct. 25, a member of the production crew alleged that MLS Season Pass analyst Taylor Twellman made physical contact with him in the broadcast booth,’ the league statement began.
‘Once Major League Soccer was made aware of the allegation, the League immediately opened a review of the allegation and Twellman was removed from his scheduled assignment on Nov. 9 while the review was ongoing,’ the league spokeswoman confirmed in her statement. ‘This process included interviews with individuals who were present in the commentary booth at the time of the incident.
Video of the incident does not exist, and while NFL broadcast booths are commonly equipped with cameras, Apple TV has refused to do so for MLS games.
Twellman has returned to MLS Season Pass and remains scheduled to call a Western Conference semifinal on November 23 between LAFC and the Seattle Sounders.
Previously, Twellman refused to comment to The Athletic.
A former Golden Boot winner with the New England Revolution and one of the first true MLS stars, Twellman, 44, has been one of the league’s main announcers since retiring in 2010.
From 2011 until early 2023 he served as ESPN’s top soccer analyst and even did his own recap show on ESPN+ before department from the network.
