In a statement sent on Tuesday afternoon to PFT (and others, including MDS of AOL), ESPN V.P. of Public Relations Josh Krulewitz addressed the stream of videos that keep popping up on YouTube, and that paint Bristol institution Chris Berman in an unflattering light.

“The off air videos are now nearly a decade old and do not reflect his typical workplace demeanor, his relationships with co-workers, nor the contributions he has made to ESPN over many years,” Krulewitz said.  “Chris has a tremendous connection with sports fans and his body of work should not be judged by a few minutes of unguarded language uttered years ago.   We aren’t excusing the language used and will be emphasizing to our workforce the importance of using appropriate language in the workplace.”

Other than Berman’s dialogue with a female colleague regarding whether she “squirmed” while she drank wine he had bought for her (including his momentary racist facial expression and sound effects when she told him that she had the wine at a Japanese restaurant) and the step-by-step guide for smuggling Canadian Codeine into the U.S. of A., none of the things in the videos that have been released to date are all that troubling.  It’s actually a bit refreshing to see that Berman is as human as the rest of us.