Wirtz letter played role in Collins’ ouster

A letter obtained by the Chicago Tribune written by Blackhawks chairman Rocky Wirtz to Phil Badella, vice president and general manager of Comcast SportsNet Chicago, played a key role in the dismissal of anchor and Hawks reporter Susannah Collins.

Wirtz wrote the letter after discovering Collins’ involvement in Sports Nutz, an irreverent series of video shorts that could be deemed offensive by some. Wirtz was none to pleased to find out that Collins co-hosted the show.

“In my opinion and those of others, (the videos) are incredibly offensive to a number of audiences, going well beyond professional athletes,” Wirtz wrote. “Had we known of this earlier, we would have raised the issue immediately.”

The letter went on to ask CSN Chicago to “remove her from our broadcast immediately.”

Collins was fired Thursday night.

The videos, which Collins told her bosses about before she was hired, became a concern to the Hawks this week after Collins made a mistake on the air, saying the Hawks had a “tremendous amount of sex during the regular season,” using the word sex instead of success.

That video has gone viral.

The popular Collins has received an outpouring of support from her fans and friends.

CSN Chicago is a partnership between Comcast, the Hawks, Bulls, Cubs and White Sox. Comcast owns about 30 percent of the network and the teams control the rest.