A good rule of thumb for certain people these days is that if you don’t like something and people of color are involved, you can just say it’s “woke,” which sends a message to the appropriate parties on how to feel.
After it was announced that ESPN was ending longtime show Around the Horn on Friday, May 23, former panelist Jay Mariotti lamented ESPN’s so-called “woke” agenda and accused former network president John Skipper of stacking the panel with “anti-Trump” personalities.
“John Skipper ran ESPN at the time,” Mariotti told Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy. “I think what John Skipper wanted from some of the shows was he started to install people on the shows who became anti-Trump — can I put it that way?
“Our show was about sports. Honestly, we did delve into politics. But you were never going to get me on ripping the president, or praising the president. We’re not going that far. I started to watch the show and I would see people down and out anti-Trump. I’m not going to tell you whether I’m a Trump guy or not. That’s really irrelevant. I did not want to watch a sports show and see it delve into that. And I think it started at the top from management, at the time, that they wanted this to be the tone of the show. Jemele Hill had her say. Michael Smith had his say. I was like, “Can we get back to this?”
Mariotti stopped appearing on ATH after being charged with three felony charges, including stalking and two misdemeanors related to alleged domestic disturbances in 2010. He later pleaded no contest to charges involving stalking and assaulting his ex-girlfriend.
Hill wasn’t too happy with being namechecked by Mariotti, nor with his sentiment that being “woke” led to the show’s eventual cancelation. The longtime sports and culture commentator took to social media to push back on his narrative.
I don’t really appreciate Jay bringing my name into this or my friend Michael Smith. For one, I don’t even know Jay like that. And secondly, I started doing ATH in 2007 or 2008. Donald Trump obviously wasn’t in office then, so to suggest that ESPN started putting anti-Trump folks… https://t.co/69d0UWBuks
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) March 8, 2025
“I don’t really appreciate Jay bringing my name into this or my friend Michael Smith,” said Hill on X. “For one, I don’t even know Jay like that. And secondly, I started doing ATH in 2007 or 2008. Donald Trump obviously wasn’t in office then, so to suggest that ESPN started putting anti-Trump folks on the show on purpose is just a dumb statement.
“The beauty of ATH is that it was a mechanism to get a variety of voices on air. It has launched and furthered so many careers, including mine. Having a run of over 20 years in sports television is a testament to what an institution this show became.”
ESPN has not provided any reasons for its decision to end Around the Horn, which began in 2002.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.