ESPN2 aired Shohei Ohtani’s live press conference Monday as he addressed the gambling scandal involving his longtime interpreter, but the network simultaneously showed something else that raised the eyebrows of many viewers.
The Los Angeles Dodgers superstar claims his close friend and interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, stole millions from him and lied to him. The Dodgers fired Mizuhara after reports by ESPN and the Los Angeles Times alleged he ran up illegal gambling debts of more than $1 million.
Ohtani sat with Will Ireton, the Dodgers’ manager of performance operations, who translated.
“I am very saddened and shocked someone whom I trusted has done this,” Ohtani said. “Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has been telling lies. I never bet on sports or have willfully sent money to the bookmaker.”
Shohei Ohtani states he has never bet on baseball or any other sport, and publicly accuses former translator Ippei Mizuhara of stealing from him and lying pic.twitter.com/zjapF6o07K
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 25, 2024
Ohtani spoke for about 12 minutes and did not take any questions from the room full of reporters. While there were no real surprises during the event, some ESPN2 viewers found it almost surreal that, as the star addressed the gambling scandal, the network ran a ticker at the bottom of the screen displaying sports betting info for various sports.
MLB announced Friday it is investigating the situation, and the IRS is conducting its own probe. The scandal comes just three months after Ohtani signed an historic 10-year, $700 million contract.
Many in sports media have been predicting a major sports betting scandal is imminent, whether involving players, a referee or even sports reporters. In fact, ESPN reported Monday that the NBA is investigating Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter for betting irregularities in recent months.
At the same time, networks are raking in millions in advertising and partnerships with companies such as DraftKings and FanDuel. So perhaps situations like what happened with the ESPN2 ticker during Ohtani’s press conference are inevitable. Still, many fans thought the situation had a weird feel and underlined the hypocrisy some see in the attitude toward athletes and gambling.
The betting odds at the bottom of the ESPN ticker are an incredible touch here https://t.co/3RMaiZnjdH pic.twitter.com/IfVAODXR6A
— Addison (@YankeeWRLD) March 25, 2024
https://twitter.com/lindseywasson/status/1772411440109879674
ESPN: “Shohei Ohtani’s agent bet on his games!!! Oh no!!!!”
Also ESPN: “This segment is brought to you by ESPN Bet, where we’ll give you our predictions of who goes over or under and who wins the game.”
— Dev (@devinmakesmusic) March 25, 2024
Too ironic you’d think MLB might be aware of that look at least for this presser
— Waiver Wire Wizard (@waiverwirewiz69) March 25, 2024
Great look for MLB and ESPN https://t.co/by5KqOwwGf
— Jaymes (@JaymesL) March 25, 2024
“And this concludes shohei ohtani’s press conference, where he spoke in depth about gambling rumors, presented to you by draft kings. Use promo code PITCH to match deposits up to 100 dollars”
— chloe (@chloeg_13) March 25, 2024
[@awful announcing]
