Nearly a full year after she left ESPN over their COVID vaccine mandate and joined the Daily Wire, sports reporter Allison Williams is finally launching a series for Ben Shapiro’s outlet.
The Daily Wire recently dropped a trailer, press release and the first four episodes of Williams’ eight-part series titled BreakAways, making them available on their subscription service DailyWire+.
“My name is Allison Williams,” the trailer begins. “I was a host and reporter at ESPN, but forced off the sidelines for refusing the COVID vaccine. Now I’m traveling across America, talking to some of the biggest names in sports to hear their thoughts on wokeness being injected into our favorite pastimes.”
Some of those who are advertised as the “biggest names in sports” are UFC President Dana White, NBA players Jonathan Isaac and Enes Kanter Freedom, and former Washington State Cougars coach Nick Rolovich. Rolovich was terminated after refusing to comply with the state’s vaccine mandate.
While many right-wingers and anti-vaxxers have spent the last two years downplaying the pandemic, conservative media sure seeks to squeeze every ounce of content they can out of COVID. Similarly, no one uses the word “woke” more than conservative media, whose frequent use and mischaracterization of the term has completely weakened its origin.
The concept for this particular series may have been better served if it was released last year, when Williams first announced she was joining the Daily Wire and the vaccine was at its peak of being a polarizing debate within sports. But leagues have since dropped many of their COVID protocols and initiatives to encourage vaccination against the virus, with Canada even helping by recently announcing plans to drop its COVID-19 vaccine border requirement.
To be fair, the pandemic and vaccines are just one aspect of the series. It touts interviewing “athletes from different sports and backgrounds who share one common trait: they risked everything to take a stand for their beliefs.”
Williams views herself as having that same trait after she left ESPN unceremoniously over her vaccine refusal last year. Months before her departure, ESPN announced a vaccine mandate for all on-site employees to ensure compliance with the various league, conference and stadium protocols.
Being an on-site college football sideline reporter, Williams would have struggled to fulfill her responsibilities without vaccine mandate compliance. Now that many conferences and stadiums no longer require proof of vaccination upon entry, Williams has signed with Fox Sports where she resumed her role as a college football sideline reporter.
