Trump Cuts Inaugural Announcer After 60 Years, ‘I Thought I Was Going to Commit Suicide,’ Announcer Says

Since the election, President-elect Donald Trump has been preparing for his new position in the White House. However, throughout the transition, he has drifted further and further from the traditions of the Presidents before him.

Most recently, to further break away from 11 presidents’ worth of tradition, Trump has decided to remove Charles Brotman as the announcer for the inauguration.

According to CNN, the 89-year-old has announced every inauguration parade since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1957, and Trump’s snub shocked Brotman to devastation.

“I looked at my email, then I got the shock of my life,” Brotman said on CNN. “I felt like Muhammad Ali had hit me in the stomach.”

For 60 years, Brotman announced the presidential inauguration, witnessing the swearing in of 11 Presidents; the email from Trump’s transition team broke Brotman’s heart, so much so, that he though he “was going to commit suicide.” He was destroyed.

As a result of Brotman’s removal, the Trump team has asked Steve Ray, a Washington-based freelance announcer, CNN reports.

“All of us think of Charlie as as much of the Washington landscape as any building,” Ray told the Washington Post. “I’m on top of the world. From my point of view, I am not filling his shoes, I’m not taking his place, I just happen to be the guy who’s next.”

In turn, a spokesperson for Trump’s transition team said Brotman will be honored as “announcer chairman emeritus.”

“Since 1957, millions of Americans and countless entertainers have come to recognize Charlie Brotman as the voice of the inaugural parade,” the spokesperson, Bris Epshteyn said in a statement. The Presidential Inaugural Committee will be proud to honor Charlie as Announcer Chairman Emeritus on January 20. We are thrilled for Steve Ray to be introducing a new generation of Americans to the grand traditions of the inaugural parade.”

According to CNN, Brotman wishes Ray well on inauguration day.