ESPN Has a History of Bashing Its Viewers and Business Partners

[TMC]

https://newsbusters.org/blogs/cultur...iness-partners

John Simmons
May 4th, 2023 10:07 AM

To run a successful business, you have to make your partners and customers feel good about their choice to support you and your product.

ESPN doesn’t get that idea - like, at all.

Just this week, Dominique Foxworth and Bomani Jones discussed the NFL Draft in an episode of “The Right Time With Bomani Jones.” Both men have a history of making racist claims about sports teams and fans, and this episode’s discussion was no different.

Foxworth and Jones noted that black quarterbacks are now some of the best playmakers and highest paid athletes in the NFL. However, they both suggested that the prominence of black signal callers would alienate some of the league’s fanbase, and argued that for fans that only know a handful of the best players in the league, the prominence of black stars would be unsettling.

“And you know what they believe, the same way the NBA is probably concerned about all these international players, they know the stars that sell consistently are tall white dudes,” Foxworth said.

“The secret sauce for viewership is white,” Jones added.

So they’re saying that a large contingent of NFL fans are racists who would rather see more white quarterbacks than black ones? How can that be true when Super Bowl LVII - a game that featured two black starting quarterbacks - was the most watched NFL title game ever?

But ESPN isn’t just bashing NFL fans. No, the sports media giant is tarnishing its relationships with other sports leagues, as well.

ESPN spends a lot of time covering the NBA. You would think that means ESPN would be giving plenty of favorable coverage, since both companies have sold their souls to the progressive agenda.

Wrong.

In early March, analyst Kendrick Perkins attacked the voting process for the NBA’s MVP Award, saying that Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic was getting strong consideration for the honor because he’s white. He also accused the league’s voters of being racist, which forced ESPN to issue an apology.

The company's relationship with the NHL is no better. ESPN entered a seven-year broadcast deal with the league before the start of the 2021-22 season, so you would think that the deal that was worth a boatload of money would mean that ESPN values its partnership with the league.

Once again, wrong.

On March 2, First Take host Molly Qerim and anchor Stephan A. Smith were in a discussion with sports broadcaster Michael Kay about which New York Sports franchise would win a championship first. Kay confidently said the Rangers would. (For a bit of hockey history, the Rangers are one of the league’s “Original Six” teams and have been a staple of American hockey culture since the NHL’s inception.)

But Qerim and Smith simply didn’t care about the Rangers’ standing in New York and American sports and mocked Kay for his choice, while simultaneously throwing the Blueshirts and the NHL under the bus.

THEY DON’T COUNT?! Shouldn’t you guys be trying to bolster the image of a league that you partnered with instead of destroying the league’s reputation on live TV?

I’m not really sure what ESPN’s endgame is by criticizing the people that keep it in business, or the leagues with whom it does business. But if this keeps up, the only thing ESPN will be the Worldwide Leader in is bankruptcy.

[Mr. Television]

I rarely watch ESPN anymore. About the only thing I watch is MNF.