Awful Announcing
"Talking about race is not talking about politics and that discussion has been hijacked. If you acknowledge race, racism, or the racial climate in this country, people say you’re talking about politics. Talking about equal rights is not political."
"And then you know what she did after that? She apologized. And apologized again. And apologized again. To the point where, I’m tired of reading her apologies."
This fits in as part of ESPN's larger shifts since they launched FiveThirtyEight back in 2014.
"I do not believe that we are a political organization. ...Of course, there is going to continue to be an intersection of between sports and politics and we’re going to continue to cover that. We’re going to cover it fairly and honestly. But we are focused on serving the sports fan."
"It's interesting that all these uberconservatives talk about what stable geniuses they are, but they sound like morons when they try and dictate to other people what they should talk about, what they're smart enough to talk about. She comes off like a bigot."
Frequent cable news guest Stephen A. Smith says ESPN should stick to sports.
"We have looked into the totality of Nolan’s comments, they were inappropriate and we have addressed it with her."
"What was Nick Saban’s responsibility? Considering that one of the candidates has said some ignorant and pointed things about African-Americans, and with [Saban] having mostly black players, did he bear some responsibility to speak up?"
Distinguishing between reporting and editorializing has become difficult territory for many media outlets in this current political climate.
"The intersection of sports and politics is the most pronounced we've seen in decades."
"For some in Bristol, Fox News’ role in hyping these stories is an examples of a rival putting its main competitor in a poor light — going so far as to plug its sister sports network."
Anything that buttresses the liberal ESPN narrative even remotely will cause it to flare up again.
"They asked me to curtail some of my political aspirations."
ESPN added "We accept her apology."
"The comments on Twitter from Jemele Hill regarding the President do not represent the position of ESPN. We have addressed this with Jemele and she recognizes her actions were inappropriate."
