Dan Le Batard usually seems to have free reign when it comes to discussing non-sports topics on his ESPN radio show. It looks like he finally ran into one topic that’s off limits, even for him.
Donald Trump’s discussion of female anatomy and how he prefers to approach it.
Le Batard opened Monday’s show discussing the recording of Donald Trump that was leaked last week and has sent shockwaves through the political world. He was explaining how the tape made for a perfect topic for “The Dan Le Batard Show” until one of his producers told him that he shouldn’t discuss it at all.
“You can’t talk about it … you probably said too much already.”
The producer then said the only thing he could talk about is the fact that he can’t talk about it. Le Batard did not take the news well.
“We do tackle all manner of pop culture and it’s just such a magical thing, the idea that a presidential candidate runs the potential of being derailed by that particular sentence. Hold a second. Before I ask you what the rules are at ESPN, just let me get this out, because I want to know what the rules are. I don’t know what the rules are … I like the pop culture elements of this. I’d like to talk about Kenneth Bone last night being the star of the debate without taking a side politically on anything. But it was such a seismic thing that happened last week. Just a perfectly 2016 controversy. The idea that a presidential candidate — what’s he saying to his friends if that’s what he is saying to Billy Bush? But before I go down this path, I need to know what the rules are.”
“It is an undercutting of my credibility. I can’t sit here talking about the meaty societal topics as often as I do and all of a sudden one makes an appearance in politics — we’re a pop-culture show — and it’s this one. It’s this one. It’s soaked in misogyny. It’s unbelievable. It’s a 2016 celebrity crisis scandal and the suits are afraid I am going to take a side. Furthermore, they’re not trusting me. They’re not trusting me to be able to talk about this in a way that’s interesting and is not flammable. That’s not me showing allegiance to either candidate, which I never do anyway.”
“That’s disappointing, man. We talk race. We talk gender, and there is some stuff here that can be talked about as it relates to misogyny and entitlement that we talk about all the time around here … You have to be kidding me. This controversy is in our wheelhouse. You have to be kidding me.”
Le Batard went on to say that “talking about it would get me suspended, which might be worth it, frankly, because they’re wrong.” Business Insider reached out to ESPN and a rep told them the radio host was not threatened with a suspension.
ESPN has been facing mounting criticism in recent months about the way politics creeps into their programming and the perceived way that they lean to the left in what they allow on air. Letting Le Batard discuss Trump probably wouldn’t have violated any kind of hard rule but it could have been yet another perceived slight against one side of the political issues, especially given the high emotions surrounding the election right now.
Had he been given the chance, Le Batard probably would have handled the issue well, but it doesn’t sound like he’ll get the chance to chime in. At least not until the dust settles and the election is over. In the meantime, if you want to hear Trump on the show, you’ll have to wait for Stugotz to do his impression.
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