Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
By Drew Lerner on

This story has been updated to include Josina Anderson’s response denying that she has a sister who reached out to Zac Jackson, who has since removed the episode with a message to his listeners as seen below. 

“This podcast was originally recorded last Tuesday. I know a lot of you have listened to it. One of the last things I discussed on it was a series of emails and social media messages I have received from someone who was presenting themselves as the sister of Josina Anderson, an NFL reporter. These messages were vile. These messages included baseless ridiculous claims. Some very specific wording,” he said. “I read one of them, maybe one and a half of them. Look, these messages were bad enough that I felt like I had to reply. And that was right. Looking back on that, I probably should not have taken the next step and taken them to this public platform. I like this public platform. Enough of you listen to this public platform to make me think that you like it. We have fun with it, even when things aren’t fun.

“And so nobody told me to do this, but in light of it going viral, I guess, and causing way more discussion than it was ever worth, I’m just going to say that I’m going to take the podcast down, this is what’s there. And I’m not going to talk about from it anymore, because I don’t gain from it, I don’t. And so, the messages remain ridiculous, the messages remain curious in many ways, but I didn’t need to jump further in, or, I guess, keep the flame ignited. I didn’t need to share the ridiculousness involved with that because I don’t gain from it and you, the listener, don’t gain from it. So, as we go through here, there will be more sideshows. My years and years and years of Browns coverage say that. Hopefully I won’t be involved in the next one, but we’ll see.

“And so I’m going to go cover Myles Garrett’s pursuit of NFL history. I’m going to see if Shedeur Sanders cant continue to develop and show this team and show everybody something here. We’re going to watch the end of the season here and see what happens with this franchise. And so I’m just going to wipe [the episode] because it’s just not worth it to me, to my family, all these people that were mentioned in these oddly specific messages at odds times. But we’re going to move on, because we’re onto Cincinnati, or Tennessee or whoever’s next. Thank you all for listening. Appreciate it. Talk to you After the game on Sunday.”

Jackson’s message came after Anderson responded to our story on Friday night.


There’s a healthy debate in Cleveland Browns circles about what Shedeur Sanders’ future looks like with the organization.

The rookie quarterback finally got his first NFL snaps last month after fellow rookie quarterback and teammate Dillon Gabriel went down with an injury against the Baltimore Ravens. In his first two career starts, Sanders won one and lost the other. He’s shown moments of promise while at times also reminding football fans why he ultimately fell to the fifth round of this year’s NFL Draft, despite some much higher prognostications.

In short, Sanders has looked like any number of rookie quarterbacks before him: inconsistent. But one Browns beat writer has skewed more positive in his coverage of Sanders, at least by his estimation. And having covered 42 other Cleveland Browns starting quarterbacks prior to Sanders, he’s had plenty of experience evaluating that position.

So when Zac Jackson, a Browns beat reporter for The Athletic, received identical messages, one a DM on social media and another an email with the subject line “BIGOT,” regarding his coverage of the Browns’ newest starting quarterback, it caught his attention. Jackson, after all, believes he has spoken mostly positively about Sanders, and certainly hadn’t written or said anything that could be characterized as racial animosity against the rookie.

In a recent episode of his podcast, Jackson explained the situation.

“So Shedeur is to forget about what happened in the summer. Aren’t you the same mutt who lied about him last month and what happened during the draft?” the message read. “Called out by Deion Jr. in your hit piece. You cowardly, pathetic creature. I don’t understand why you and many of Cleveland media write vile lies about the young king. He’s all that you will never be. You have no one to blame about where you are in your miserable life. Blame your parents, as you had a 400 year head start on this society. Your envy and jealousy is telling. Wash the grease and mousse. Brush those yellowing teeth and bathe, neanderthal.”

Jackson sent a response defending himself, which he paraphrased on his podcast.

“With all due respect, which is none, I’ve never lied about Shedeur. I have no idea what you’re talking about or why you’re so angry with me. You’re ridiculous. I said run along, play in traffic. Something like that. Oh, and something I said was that you sent this message to me twice, so clearly you have mental issues.”

That prompted a response from the original sender two days later, when she claimed to be related to a prominent NFL insider.

“Ah yes, I did send it twice making sure you got my message,” it began. “The fact that you responded lets me know I hit a nerve, and I’m surprised you can even read. I’ll let my sister know you actually had balls to reply, but find it odd you haven’t responded to Deion Jr. Typical white cowardly boy afraid to deal with a Black man. I have all the help I need, Brutus. Go write another lie so you can feel superior giving your insecure ass a feeling of power, which is all you got. Have the life you deserve. You live behind a keyboard tearing down Black men who you envy and can never be, and I’m the one that needs to get help? You and your kind are a cancer to humanity. Again, go wash.”

She then followed up with another email.

“You have no idea who you’re dealing with white man. Take a guess at who my sister is. I’ll enjoy seeing the look on your face when you realize it. Take a bath yet? I smell the stench from this email.”

The sender, it turns out, had the last name Anderson. As in, she was claiming to be the sister of Josina Anderson, perhaps the most outspoken supporter of Shedeur Sanders in all of sports media. During his unexpected NFL debut against the Ravens, Anderson sent off a tweetstorm defending an objectively poor performance, chalking it up to Sanders’ lack of first-team reps. She has also furthered the narrative that Cleveland head coach Kevin Stefanski hasn’t been fully supportive of the former Colorado star. Fair enough.

But Jackson took the emails as something that was cosigned by Josina Anderson herself, considering the sender’s willingness to bring her into the mix.

“And so this person is claiming to be related, and is claiming to pass this message along. That tells me, Josina, that you’re inciting this kind of sh*t. And it’s bullsh*t. Your mental issues are not my problem. And your opinions are not my problem either,” Jackson said.

Following the publication of this story, Josina Anderson took to social media to deny that she has a sister named “Sheila Anderson” or that she has a sister who reached out to Jackson. She also referred to the claims as “defamatory,” adding that she will “handle this with the appropriate action.”

“I listened to the reported podcast, and I can’t believe that Jackson would so recklessly share that story on his platform without checking with me first and verifying the false claim,” she wrote.

On Saturday, Jackson replaced the podcast episode in his feed with the message at the top of this story, addressing the situation. Anderson has since reacted to the original podcast being pulled.

 

About Drew Lerner

Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.

View all posts by Drew Lerner