The Jason Whitlock Interview that broke ESPN (Probably)
Layoffs. That’s the lazy explanation for what’s happening at ESPN. The reality is that, like Ogres and Onions, layoffs have layers.
Cam Newton, one of Stephen A. Smith’s proud endorsements for First Take, was laid off by ESPN on Tuesday. He wasn’t the lone, on-air talent the network released this week. Ryan Clark was released while on-air with NFL Live. Stephen A. Smith voiced his displeasure with the decision on his personal, non-ESPN affiliated show.
The layoffs were predictable. The fact of the matter is that since ESPN acquired NFL Media, they now have redundant positions. And while that may be the reason for the layoffs, the fact of the matter is that ESPN still had to rank certain employees over others. Afterall, it’s not like they just drew names from a hat. ESPN chose to let Cam Newton go. They chose to let Ryan Clark go. They chose to keep Stephen A. Smith. Those are decisions.
Other than working for ESPN, and being regular contributors to First Take, there is another thing that binds Cam Newton, Ryan Clark, and Stephen A. Smith; and it happened back in March.
After publicly feuding over social media for years, Cam Newton invited controversial sports podcaster Jason Whitlock onto his podcast to talk out their differences. As could be expected, Whitlock was his normal, repugnant, hateful self.
“Most of these homosexuals in the media are scared to death of me.” Whitlock said, referring to the sports personalities that have been critical of him over the years.
“In 4th grade [Stephen A. Smith] got held back because they thought he was retarded.” Whitlock also alleged during the interview. (Smith wrote in his book, Straight Shooter, that he was held back in third and fourth grade due to undiagnosed dyslexia).
“If I catch you at an NBA finals game playing solitaire, I think you’re gay and don’t like basketball.” Whitlock later added, referring to an incident when Stephen A. Smith was seen playing solitaire at an NBA Finals Game.
ESPN couldn’t have liked that interview, or the affiliation their employees had with it. Still, there was nothing they could do about it. 4th and 1 is Cam Newton’s podcast. ESPN has no influence over it.
You know what else ESPN has no influence over? Ryan Clark’s Twitter X account.
You know what else ESPN has no influence over? The Stephen A. Smith Show, where the host responded to both Ryan Clark’s response, and Cam Newton’s interview.
Eventually, Stephen A. Smith went on Cam Newton’s podcast where he expressed his displeasure in Newton’s refusal to push back on Whitlock at all. Smith and Newton seemed to not have an issue with one another. Just two friends talking out a disagreement.
Still, ESPN doesn’t like controversy. They’ve done everything they can to become the most clean, polished, even filtered, sports network in America. ESPN sold 10% of itself to the NFL in exchange for NFL Media. So the biggest league the network covers, is literally a part of them now. That’s how filtered they are.
They don’t want to be affiliated with entities they can’t control. ESPN can’t control Cam Newton’s show. They don’t want to be in business with him.
ESPN can’t control Ryan Clark’s show (or Twitter X). They don’t want to be in business with him.
Stephen A. Smith is a different story. Not only is he the face of the network at this point, but they know he doesn’t want to stop his massive ESPN paychecks from being signed. Ryan Clark and Cam Newton didn’t have that motivation. Their checks were surely much smaller than Stephen A. Smith’s.
So a few months ago, when Jason Whitlock caused a feud within ESPN that the network had no ability to prevent or even deal with, it presented a problem. Once ESPN had to layoff a few employees anyways, they had a solution (allegedly).
-Written by Seattle Mike