ESPN host Dan Le Batard tore into the network for preventing their on-air talent from discussing political issues in the midst of President Trump telling several members of Congress to “go back” to their home countries if they’re not happy in the United States.
Le Batard, who is the son of Cuban immigrants, went on the diatribe on his radio show Thursday.
“There’s a racial division in this country that’s being instigated by the president, and we here at ESPN haven’t had the stomach for that fight because Jemele [Hill] did some things on Twitter, and you saw what happened after that, and then here, all of a sudden, nobody talks politics on anything unless we can use one of these sports figures as a meat shield in the most cowardly possible way to discuss these subjects.”
Hill, a former ESPN personality, gained notoriety for calling Trump a white supremacist in October 2017. Both then-press secretary Sarah Sanders and Trump himself attacked Hill in retaliation with Sanders calling for her job. Hill was later suspended and left the network nearly a year after the debacle.
“The only way we can discuss it around here — because this isn’t about politics, it’s about race. What you’re seeing happening around here is about race, and it’s been turned into politics. We only talk about it around here when Steve Kerr or [Gregg] Popovich says something,” Le Batard added. “We don’t talk about what is happening unless there’s some sort of weak, cowardly sports angle that we can run it through when sports has always been the place where this stuff changes.”
“’Send her back.’ How are you any more American than her? You’re more privileged, you’re whiter, you’re richer, people don’t know whether your money is real or not,” he continued.
The “send her back” chant occurred during Trump’s Wednesday night rally in North Carolina when the president brought up Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Hill addressed Le Batard’s comments in a thread on Twitter Thursday morning.
ESPN isn’t a political network, but to me (and Dan), racism isn’t political. It is right and wrong. Silence or tolerance of racism IS racist, because that means on some level, you’re OK with other people being dehumanized.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) July 19, 2019
“Courageous, accurate commentary by Dan. I’m sure stick-to-sports-Guy/girl is having a meltdown somewhere, but one of the many reasons I left is that I was tired of the pretense Dan discusses here,” she wrote. “ESPN isn’t a political network, but to me (and Dan), racism isn’t political. It is right and wrong. Silence or tolerance of racism IS racist, because that means on some level, you’re OK with other people being dehumanized.”
