An ESPN college football reporter is quitting her high-profile job as a sideline reporter over the sports network’s vaccine mandate.
Allison Williams made the announcement on Instagram after a stormy start to the football season. When she had earlier expressed hesitation about getting the vaccine, the Disney-owned network barred her from covering games. Williams said the network was unwilling to find a way to accommodate her concerns.
“I am also so morally and ethically not aligned with this,” Williams said in her post. “And I’ve had to really dig deep and analyze my values and my morals, and ultimately I need to put them first.”
Williams said submitting to the companywide mandate would have been a breach of her morals and forced her to choose “paycheck over principle.”
“The irony in all this is that a lot of these same values and morals that I hold dear are what made me a really good employee, what helped with the success that I’m able to have in my career,” she said.
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In May, ESPN announced a vaccine mandate that applied to most employees. Because Williams’s reporting would require her to be close to other players during interviews, she was required to get a vaccine.
ESPN declined to comment on Williams’s decision but issued a broader statement on the status of its mandate.
“We are going through a thorough review of accommodation requests on a case by case basis, and are granting accommodations consistent with our legal obligations,” ESPN said in the statement.
Before her announcement, Williams had voiced objections to taking the vaccine on the grounds that she feared it could affect her ability to have children.
“While my work is incredibly important to me, the most important role I have is as a mother,” Williams wrote on Twitter. “Throughout our family planning with our doctor, as well as a fertility specialist, I have decided not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at this time while my husband and I try for a second child.”
This will be the first fall in the last 15 years I won’t be on the sidelines for College Football.
My heart hurts posting this but I’m at peace with my decision. pic.twitter.com/np5V3gdrfW— Allison Williams (@AllisonW_Sports) September 9, 2021
Williams is not the first person to express concerns about ESPN’s vaccine mandate. Anchor Sage Steele said on a podcast that she thought the vaccine mandate was “sick and scary.” Steele’s comments ended up getting her temporarily suspended.
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Williams joined ESPN in 2011. In 2016, she moved from Friday night games to the Saturday slot at ESPN. Before her time at ESPN, Williams worked as a sideline reporter covering the Miami Dolphins.
