As the host of an NFL podcast, Dave Dameshek thought that he was doing his job by discussing the controversy surrounding Colin Kaepernick during the 2016 season.
Apparently, his bosses had other ideas.
During a recent episode of his new Meadowlark Media podcast, Football America!, the longtime NFL personality discussed the league’s recently announced equity deal with ESPN. And while addressing the potential conflicts of interest it could present, Dameshek recalled the pushback he received from his now-former bosses for frequently discussing Kaepernick’s protests during his NFL Media podcast, The Dave Dameshek Football Program.
“When the Colin Kaepernick taking a knee thing was really hitting in a big way and I would talk about it on my show, I was called in by bosses and [they] said, ‘Stop talking about the Colin Kaepernick knee thing,'” Dameshek recalled. “And I said, ‘It’s the biggest story in football right now,’ and they said, ‘No one cares what you think about that.’
“That’s the kind of stuff that happens. It’s not formal threatening or anything else. It’s just like, ‘Don’t talk. Nobody cares what you think.’ And I think that we’re ignoring empirical reality with that kind of stuff.”
Dameshek’s guest, ESPN’s Mina Kimes, said that she’s never dealt with such editorial influence, but also added that discussing matters involving the league and/or its owners is a relatively small part of her job. She also stated that she doesn’t expect that to change, regardless of the league taking a 10 percent equity stake in her employer.
That may very well be the case for individual talents such as Kimes, but it’s also worth noting that ESPN has seemingly taken a more NFL-friendly approach in recent weeks. And a part of that involves Kaepernick, with the Worldwide Leader in Sports announcing that Spike Lee’s eight-part docuseries on the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback won’t be released by the network as previously planned.
While ESPN cited creative differences as the primary reason for the decision, the perception — real or imagined — for many is that the network no longer has interest in a project that presumably paints the NFL in a negative light. And based on Dameshek’s own experiences, there is at least reason to believe that this is now a perception it will have to deal with moving forward.
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.