The 89-year-old man who has announced every presidential inaugural parade since President Dwight Eisenhower’s second term in 1957 is “traumatized” after President-elect Trump decided to replace him.
“I looked at my email, then I got the shock of my life,” Charles Brotman told CNN on Monday. “I felt like Muhammad Ali had hit me in the stomach.”
He is being replaced by Steve Ray, a freelance announcer in Washington, D.C.
“I thought I was going to commit suicide,” Brotman said about the email he received from Trump’s transition team on Thursday.
“It was really terrible. I know that I’ve been doing it for 60 years and nobody has ever asked whether I’m a Democrat, Republican, independent.”
Ray volunteered for Trump’s campaign, and Brotman said he believed the president-elect owed Ray a favor.
Trump’s team has named Brotman “announcer chairman emeritus,” according to the Washington Post. He was also offered a prime seat at the parade.
