Does ESPN have a double standard when hosts speak out?

Please let's focus on ESPN and not any Politics.

ESPN‘s handling of its latest controversy offers fresh evidence that the network will punish employees for expressing conservative views while liberal staffers are given a pass – regardless of how it impacts the company’s bottom line.

The company offered a mild reprimand of anchor Jemele Hill after she called President Trump a "white supremacist" in a tweet. But conservatives at the network have been punished or even fired for speaking their minds, and another personality recently got put on time out for simply musing that ESPN's obvious political bent is turning off viewers.

“Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists,” Hill, the face of ESPN’s “SC6,” a relatively new version of SportsCenter with an urban feel, tweeted. Hill is an outspoken liberal who currently has a pair of photographs with Barack and Michelle Obama pinned atop her twitter feed.

Why would politics turn away subscribers from a sports network? Well, in recent memory, ESPN has awarded its prestigious Arthur Ashe Award for Courage to Caitlyn Jenner for coming out as transgender, spent countless hours of airtime praising now-former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick for kneeling during the National Anthem and even removed an Asian-American broadcaster named Robert Lee from an assignment because of fear that his name is similar to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Former ESPN personality Jason Whitlock, now a host on Fox Sports, believes the majority of sports fans lean to the right. He has a theory for why the Connecticut-based sports network has turned to the left.

“I think that ESPN has chosen a lane politically… there's rumors that [Disney chairman and CEO] Bob Iger wants to run for president,” Whitlock said Wednesday on “Fox & friends.”

ESPN's double standard shows when hosts speak out | Fox News

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Does ESPN have a double standard when hosts speak out?

If political talk is really taboo, this thread has zero chance of lasting.

If political talk is really taboo, this thread has zero chance of lasting.

We are going to try, this is about ESPN, does ESPN have a double standard?

In short, yes they seem to.

Yes. Can't go into any detail without violating the rules.

Without a doubt. ESPN has went from the "Entertainment Sports Programming Network" to "Entertainment, Sports, and Politics Network."

They should reprimand Jamele Hill for just be bad at her job. Now we know she's also bad at life.

I think ESPN certainly has a standard that reflects their desire of how they want their brand to be perceived. Anything that conflicts with that branding is verboten. Anything that doesn't conflict with the brand but causes a stir gets a slap on the wrist.

I don't know that I'd call it a double standard since the corporate messaging seems to be pretty clear and applied across the company.

Please let's focus on ESPN and not any Politics.

 

ESPN‘s handling of its latest controversy offers fresh evidence that the network will punish employees for expressing conservative views while liberal staffers are given a pass – regardless of how it impacts the company’s bottom line.

 

The company offered a mild reprimand of anchor Jemele Hill after she called President Trump a "white supremacist" in a tweet. But conservatives at the network have been punished or even fired for speaking their minds, and another personality recently got put on time out for simply musing that ESPN's obvious political bent is turning off viewers.

 

“Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists,” Hill, the face of ESPN’s “SC6,” a relatively new version of SportsCenter with an urban feel, tweeted. Hill is an outspoken liberal who currently has a pair of photographs with Barack and Michelle Obama pinned atop her twitter feed.

 

Why would politics turn away subscribers from a sports network? Well, in recent memory, ESPN has awarded its prestigious Arthur Ashe Award for Courage to Caitlyn Jenner for coming out as transgender, spent countless hours of airtime praising now-former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick for kneeling during the National Anthem and even removed an Asian-American broadcaster named Robert Lee from an assignment because of fear that his name is similar to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

 

Former ESPN personality Jason Whitlock, now a host on Fox Sports, believes the majority of sports fans lean to the right. He has a theory for why the Connecticut-based sports network has turned to the left.

 

“I think that ESPN has chosen a lane politically… there's rumors that [Disney chairman and CEO] Bob Iger wants to run for president,” Whitlock said Wednesday on “Fox & friends.”

 

ESPN's double standard shows when hosts speak out | Fox News

 

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Does ESPN have a double standard when hosts speak out?

What are the examples of this?

What are the examples of this?

The article mentions a couple I think.

In an interesting coincidence of timing, Bryan Curtis of The Ringer just posted an in-depth article about Hill this morning.

Jemele Hill on the Fight for the Future of ESPN - The Ringer

The article mentions a couple I think.

The only one they mentioned where someone was fired was Schilling and that example is not really apples to apples. I will add that if I'm in charge of ESPN Hill would be gone. You can't have one of the faces of your company publicly calling the President a racist.

What are the examples of this?

Britt McHenry is another.

Seems pretty obvious. :idunno:

We can't have a real conversation on this topic without discussing politics, so I'm not really sure why it was even posted.