A look at some of the tweets and quotes that have gotten personalities and anchors suspended, reprimanded or fired.
The perceived political bias at ESPN has reached all the way to the White House, where the president and his press secretary continue to talk about Jemele Hill and why they’re calling for an apology.
On Friday, Sarah Huckabee Sanders addressed President Donald Trump’s tweet and said anchor Linda Cohn was suspended for making political statements.
“I think that the point is that ESPN has been hypocritical. They should hold anchors to a fair and consistent standard,” @PressSec says pic.twitter.com/XSJ4cENQg2
With that in mind, let’s look back at some of political quotes and tweets that have gotten ESPN employees into hot water.
Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.
This is the tweet that’s caused this whole firestorm. Hill apologized and the network accepted it, but she hasn’t been suspended.
So, to address the elephant in the room … #Facts pic.twitter.com/RTrIDD87ut
The longtime anchor had this to say in April ( via Business Insider) when asked about whether ESPN had lost viewers because of politics:
“You’re right. That is definitely a percentage of it. I don’t know how big a percentage. But if anyone wants to ignore that fact, they’re blind. That’s what I meant about the core group that made ESPN so successful…”
Awful Announcing reported Cohn was told “to take a day off.”
The longtime pitcher was suspended after comparing Muslims to Nazis in 2015. And in 2016, when he shared a Facebook post that addressed transgender people using bathrooms, ESPN released this statement:
ESPN is an inclusive company. Curt Schilling has been advised that his conduct was unacceptable and his employment with ESPN has been terminated
I don’t know if this counts as “political,” but the baseball reporter was suspended from Twitter in 2014 for engaging with Schilling about evolution on social media.
@gehrig38 @zoowithroy There are hundreds of transitional fossils on record, Curt. http://t.co/cmTiqzhtC5
Seriously, if someone says evolution is wrong because there aren’t fossils between monkeys and men, find a monkey and hit him with it.
No, I won’t. Science is infinitely more important. “ @toddhampton: @keithlaw Getting into science now huh? Stick to baseball.”
In the wake of the Hill controversy, the ex-reporter claimed on Twitter that she had been “reprimanded” for favoriting conservative tweets, but didn’t specify how.
If I favorited a tweet that wasn’t favorable towards President Obama I would get reprimanded. Can’t call the President a White Supremacist.
For those saying “that’s not a true statement.” Yes, it is. I worked there and was reprimanded for conservative-leaning tweets I favorited.
