ESPN Dismissed Ryan Clark DURING a Taping of NFL Live

There’s never a good time to be fired. But some times are worse than others. Birthdays, anniversaries, or in the middle of a live TV broadcast are certainly in the latter category.

According to a report from The Athletic, Ryan Clark was let go by ESPN while appearing on NFL Live. Clark was presumably notified during a commercial break, or some point in time when he wasn’t on screen. Clark didn’t finish the program.

Clark’s history with ESPN has been colorful, to say the least, in the last year. Back in September, Clark infamously got into an argument with colleague Peter Schrager on Get Up when they disagreed over the Cowboys performance in Week 1.

“That’s the non-player in you.” Clark said to Schrager.

“I’m not looking at fantasy football.” Schrager responded quickly. “Ryan, don’t belittle me like that…I can say, as three ex-players are saying one thing, I can give an alternative perspective…”

“Peter, what I need you to do is not get mad and let me finish.” Clark interrupted.

Clark posted an apology to Twitter X later in the day. “Today, I had an interaction with my colleague (Peter Schrager) both on and off the air that I regret.”

The comment section flooded with social media users pointing out that this was just the latest in a series of apologies from Clark.

Just a few months earlier, Ryan Clark issued an apology to Robert Griffin III, after insinuating that because his wife is white, Griffin doesn’t have enough conversations in his home to understand the struggles black women have to deal with in America. The argument began as a disagreement over the rivalry between WNBA stars Angel Reese and Caitlyn Clark. At one point during the argument, Clark described Griffin as the worst teammate he’s ever had, on and off the field (They played together in Washington, and worked together at ESPN until Griffin was let go in 2024).

Clark’s other infamous apologies came after questioning Tua Tagovailoa work ethic and Russell Wilson’s “corny” image to his wife Ciara and her son from a previous relationship (Russell’s stepson; who he’s only ever referred to publicly as “son”).

Another Clark apology came on air earlier this year for questioning quarterback Sam Darnold’s integrity when he limited his throws during the Seahawks first round bye, in the playoffs. Clark implied that Darnold was exaggerating an injury in order to set up excuses in case the Seahawks were bounced by the 49ers in the Divisional Round (Seahawks won 41-6).

I’m not against apologizing when you get something wrong. That’s the right thing to do! But if you constantly have to apologize, it means you’re doing/saying a lot of wrong things in the first place.

I personally have a connection to Ryan Clark’s poor performance on ESPN. One of my most viral videos on TikTok was me fact checking Ryan Clark, who stated completely incorrect stats about Sam Darnold’s performances with the Seahawks.

So I do want to personally thank Ryan Clark for the content! I couldn’t have made that video if he was actually good at his job.

The Athletic reports that Ryan Clark is just the first of an expected wave of ESPN layoffs in the coming days. Being someone so widely disliked across the internet does make the layoff decision easier for ESPN (Though, I would have at least waited until after the show!)

-Written by Seattle Mike