‘I was devastated’: Former Apple TV Commentator Gets The Boot

Following a season in which Jeremy Filosa delivered French commentary for Apple TV’s coverage of CF Montreal, the veteran journalist has been sacked – with reports stating the club he had criticized requested the move.

25 years ago, a young Italian man from Montreal entered the world of sports media while also working part-time at the Montreal Casino with his good friend.

Jeremy Filosa slowly made his way to be the sports guy for his radio station 98.5FM, a French station covering everything from Hockey to soccer to boxing.

25 years later he covered CF Montreal for the station and his personal project, IMFC Radio, a CF Montreal-focused podcast with his good friends Gavino De Falco and JF Dos Santos.

At the beginning of the year, Filosa was hired as a play-by-play commentator for Apple TV , doing 14 games in French covering the Vancouver Whitecaps. Looking forward to a potential long-term deal, Filosa spent his weekends traveling all over North America covering the Whitecaps at home and on the road.

Filosa had told me Apple TV had reached out to the club when he was hired and the word was the team had told them to put him on the west coast.

Last month that came to a close as he received a phone call from one of the managers at Apple TV, saying his work was impeccable but that his services were no longer required.

“I was shocked and devastated,” Filosa told me on a phone call later that night. He had told me that they were made aware of several incidents where he had been too harsh on social media and guests appearing on Tony Marinaro, another Montreal podcaster show called The Sick Podcast.

He explained to them that his full time job was in fact as a journalist and that it was job to report on the news whether it was good or bad. It later came out that the team CF Montreal had requested they fire him.

The fact that Apple TV agreed to the move is a big red flag for transparent coverage, and they were quick to respond.

Dan Courtemanche, who works for Apple TV and is a long time friend of Filosa, didn’t answer his calls or texts on the night of, but later came out with the following.

“It is up to the management team to decide on air talent and that no club has the right to decide who gets hired or fired,” claimed Courtemanche.

It’s another dramatic situation to add to the pile for CF Montreal after what has been a wild, wild season.

IMFC Radio has decided to pull the plug, and many journalists opted not to show up to the end of season press conference to show support for Filosa, including myself.

The response on social media was astounding, with over 300k people reading Filosa’s post when he came out to announce the news that he was done covering the team.

It remains to be seen what happens next, but the relationship between CF Montreal and its local media looks icy coming in to 2024.