ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro has said over and over how ESPN isn’t a political organization since he took the job in March 2018.
But on Thursday, ESPN’s Dan Le Batard threw aside the network’s “no politics” policy — and even called out how it’s been handled since Jemele Hill’s exit — while ripping President Donald Trump and the racist “send her back” chants that took place at Trump’s rally Wednesday about congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
On Thursday’s edition of The Dan Le Batard Show (simulcast on ESPNEWS), the radio host and TV personality read this tweet from FS1’s Nick Wright regarding the racist chants:
I don’t talk politics on here but this isn’t political, this is obvious: This is abhorrent, obviously racist, dangerous rhetoric and not calling it out makes you complicit.
The “send her back” chant + the “go back to where you came from” are so antithetical to what we should be. https://t.co/0Mwnlaf3gE
— nick wright (@getnickwright) July 18, 2019
Le Batard said it’s “so right” what Wright tweeted, and it’s “so wrong what the president of our country is doing, trying to go down getting reelected by dividing the masses at a time when the old white man, the old, rich white man feels oppressed being attacked by minorities.”
The Miami-based radio host added that ESPN hasn’t “had the stomach for that fight because Jemele (Hill) did some things on Twitter, and you saw what happened after that,” and “we don’t talk about what is happening unless there’s some sort of weak cowardly sports angle that we can run it through.”
Here’s video, followed by a transcript (h/t: FTW):
Stop what you're doing and watch this.@LeBatardShow responds to the racist "Send her back" and "Go back to your country" attacks against Ilhan Omar and other congresswomen.
"If you're not calling it abhorrent, obviously racist, dangerous rhetoric, you're complicit." pic.twitter.com/ntOC2Seg3b
— Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) July 18, 2019
“So, what happened last night. This felt un-American. Basically, a chant, ‘Send her back.’ It’s not the America that my parents came to get for us … There’s a racial division in this country that’s being instigated by the president. And we here at ESPN haven’t had the stomach for that fight because Jemele (Hill) did some things on Twitter, and you saw what happened after that. Then, here, all of the sudden, nobody talks politics on anything unless we can use one of these sports figures as a meat shield in the most cowardly possible way to discuss the subject.
“What happened last night at this rally is deeply offensive. Done by the president of our country. … Nick Wright writes ‘I don’t talk politics on here, but this isn’t political. This is abhorrent, obviously racist, dangerous rhetoric and not calling it out makes you complicit.’ The ‘send her back’ chant and the ‘go back to where you came from’ are so antithetical to what we should be. It is so right what he (Wright) is saying there. It is so wrong what the president of our country is doing, trying to go down getting reelected by dividing the masses at a time when the old white man, the old, rich white man feels oppressed being attacked by minorities. Black people, brown people, women — that’s who we’re going after now. Black people, brown people, women — let’s do it, as the platform.
“That’s what you’re seeing, and the only way we can discuss it around here — because this isn’t about politics, it’s about race — what you’re seeing happening around here is about race being turned into politics. And we only talk about it around here when Steve Kerr or Popovich says something. We don’t talk about what is happening unless there’s some sort of weak cowardly sports angle that we can run it through. When sports has been a place where this stuff changes.”
So, Le Batard certainly didn’t hold back, and this will be the first test of how serious Pitaro really is with the “no politics” talk since Hill’s exit. It will be interesting to see how Pitaro and ESPN respond to Le Batard’s comments.
Update: Per Andrew Marchand, Le Batard will remain on the air although the network wouldn’t comment on if he could suffer a financial penalty. Marchand’s article also notes that Le Batard missed the first hour of his radio show and was said to be eating breakfast which is quite fishy but you know, it is the most important meal of the day.
