Former ESPN personality Sarah Spain took issue with Shane Gillis' monologue at the 2025 ESPYS. Screen grab: ABC
By Ben Axelrod on

As he acknowledged multiple times throughout it, Shane Gillis’ opening monologue at the 2025 ESPYS on Wednesday night wasn’t for everybody. And that apparently includes Sarah Spain.

Taking to X following the annual awards show on Wednesday, the ex-ESPN reporter and personality took issue with Gillis’ monologue, which included jokes about Megan Rapinoe, Caitlin Clark and the WNBA’s popularity. Spain contrasted those jokes with the recent rise of women’s sports and questioned the decision to insert such humor into what would otherwise be a celebration.

“In a year of crazy growth for women’s sports choosing an ESPYs host who doesn’t even try to make clever jokes about women athletes (he at least *attempted* for the men) he goes with hacky ‘no one knows the WNBA’ bits, ‘Pinoe is a bad time’ & repeatedly insults Black women,” she wrote. “COOL.”

Suffice it to say, Gillis’ jokes clearly didn’t land with Spain, which would put her in the majority of those in attendance on Wednesday night (the monologue did, however, seemingly receive a more positive reaction on social media). As for the joke about Rapinoe, that came relatively early in the monologue, as the Tires star made note that the U.S. women’s soccer legend wasn’t at the event, to which he said, “nice.”

“No, we’re gonna pretend she’s a good time?” Gillis added as the crowd responded awkwardly. “Alright.”

Later in the monologue, the Pennsylvania native called attention to Brittany Hicks, who he described as a “4-time WNBA All-Star” before eliciting applause from the audience. The only problem? Hicks isn’t actually a WNBA All-Star or even a WNBA player; she’s the wife of Gillis’ podcast co-host and friend, Matt McCusker.

“I’m just joking around. That’s my friend’s wife,” he said. “I knew none of you knew WNBA players. That’s crazy you clapped for that.”

As for the jokes about Black women, Shane Gillis did poke fun at Simone Biles, although there wasn’t a racial element to those comments. He did, however, make a joke about Donald Trump referring to the New York Liberty as “Black guys” during a visit to the White House that never actually happened.

Obviously, comedy is subjective and Sarah Spain is certainly entitled to her opinion, which she was hardly alone in having. And it admittedly created somewhat of a disjointed experience to have Gillis’ off-color monologue open a show that was otherwise celebratory in nature, including several heartwarming tributes throughout the three-hour program.

Ultimately, this is what ESPN signed up for when it hired Gillis for the ESPYS gig, as he didn’t say anything that anyone familiar with his brand of comedy wouldn’t have expected him to. And it would certainly be interesting to know whether Disney executives believe that the trade-off between the backlash to his monologue and the attention that it brought to the ESPYS was ultimately worth it.

About Ben Axelrod

Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.

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