Dan Le Batard

In a rare case of ESPN-on-ESPN crime, Dan Le Batard criticized colleague Sage Steele for her Instagram post complaining about the protests at Los Angeles International Aiport. If you’re not aware of it, Steele complained that the protests at LAX delayed her travel to Houston for the Super Bowl. And when she received flak for her post, Steele doubled down.

On his radio show, Le Batard who has been critical of ESPN colleagues in the past, addressed the controversy of Donald Trump’s executive order preventing Syrian refugees and Muslims from seven countries from entering the country. He noted that ESPN had wanted to avoid the topic, but after seeing Steele’s Instagram post, he couldn’t be silent:

“The genie is out of the bottle on this because we all have our own Twitter accounts and all have our own social media. This is what ESPN is trying to prevent because once one person does it, it opens the floodgates for the rest of us because, of course, I, as the son of exiles, look at this and I’m like what the hell are you talking about [that] your travel plans were affected? What are you talking about? The height of privilege.

“But you can’t give this a voice and then muzzle the rest of us. You can’t give Sage Steele this voice and muzzle the son of exiles.”

Le Batard has shown that he has been willing to take on controversial subjects in the past and this is no exception. Whether ESPN will crack down for this latest outburst, only time will tell.

[The Sporting News]

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

Comments are closed.