Retired baseball player Curt Schilling was fired from ESPN after making disparaging comments about transgender people.
ESPN announced the termination of its outspoken game analyst Wednesday evening in a statement. “ESPN is an inclusive company,” the company’s statement read. “Curt Schilling has been advised that his conduct was unacceptable and his employment with ESPN has been terminated.”
Schilling posted a meme on Facebook Monday criticizing transgender people who use the bathrooms for the gender with which they identify. The picture was later deleted, and according to the New York Times showed a man wearing a wig and ripped womens’ clothing with the caption, “LET HIM IN! to the restroom with your daughter or else you’re a narrow-minded, judgmental, unloving racist bigot who needs to die.”
The 49-year-old MLB retiree later posted in a blog post titled “The hunt to be offended…” explaining his controversial remarks. Schilling maintained he doesn’t care about a person’s race, sexual orientation, or outward appearance. “This latest brew ha ha is beyond hilarious. I didn’t post that ugly looking picture. I made a comment about the basic functionality of mens and womens restrooms, period,” Schilling said.
“You frauds out there ranting and screaming about my ‘opinions’ (even if it isn’t) and comments are screaming for ‘tolerance’ and ‘acceptance’ while you refuse to do and be either,” he said. “YOU’RE the ones making it the issue. I don’t care, if you ask me about any of the topics it’s likely (much to the chagrin of many) I’ll answer with my opinion.”
The issue of transgender access to public bathrooms has been a hot-button topic of late, as two states recently passed laws that critics have dubbed discriminatory. North Carolina passed a law which residents must use the bathroom or locker room that corresponds to the gender on their birth certificates, while Mississippi passed a “religious freedom” law meant to protect its citizens who choose not to provide services to gay and transgender people who oppose their religious beliefs. Several public figures have condemned the laws, and many music artists have canceled performances in those states in protest.
Schilling, who played for Major League Baseball as a pitcher from 1998 to 2007, is a six-time All Star and owns a few World Series rings. He has worked for ESPN since 2010 and had been punished by company previously for disparaging remarks. Last September he was suspended from baseball coverage after posting a tweet that compared Muslims to Nazis.
In March he received backlash for his harsh criticism of GOP front-runner Donald Trump and saying Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton “should be buried under a jail somewhere.” True to form, according to Federal Election Commission filings Schilling donated $250 to former candidate Ben Carson’s presidential campaign, listing his employer as “ESPN (Not Sure How Much Longer)” and his occupation as “Analyst (For Now Anyway).”
