Back in December 2017, ESPN gathered up all their employees at their home base in Bristol, Connecticut for a two-hour summit to iron out a few things that included two main topics: 1. ESPN is fine. 2. Stick to sports.
“ESPN is a journalistic organization – not a political organization. We should do nothing to undermine that position,” he said. “ESPN’s focus is sports. By-and-large we are not experts on politics, healthcare policies, terrorism, commerce – that’s not what we do.
“Our audience is not looking for our opinions on the general news of the day,” he added. “And believe me, I get it. It can sometimes be difficult to control impulses or ignore trolls, but that’s what we’re called to do for each other.”
Dan Le Batard went against that policy on Thursday.
The ESPN radio host took to the airwaves and just couldn’t ignore the crowd at Donald Trump’s rally Wednesday night chanting “send her back” in reference to congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
Le Batard took aim at Trump, his crowd, ESPN’s “no-politics” policy and anyone who has decided to remain silent on this topic.
The segment opened with him reading this tweet from Nick Wright:
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Here’s his response:
The full video:
ESPN will more than likely reprimand him behind the scenes for going against policy. Aside from this segment from Dan, nobody at the Worldwide Leader in Sports has dared to talk politics since Jemele Hill left ESPN.
