“WWhat happened to the Native Americans, by the way? Donald Trump asked Interview on the Pat McAfee Show Which was not particularly committed to sports. His appearance on Tuesday’s program to commemorate Veterans Day was supposed to be a major coup for ESPN, marking the first time Trump has been interviewed on the network as a sitting president. But viewers could easily be mistaken into thinking they are watching Fox News.
Trump delivered his usual criticism of Joe Biden, claimed credit for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ high approval ratings, and declared victory over Democrats in a frustrating 43-day government shutdown. Instead of countering his own political promotion, McAfee cheered on Trump before opening the door for his followers to ask him which NFL coach would make a great president. It was all delivered live from Parris Island in South Carolina, the oldest US Marine Corps depot, which gave McAfee another pretext to urge the Commander-in-Chief to issue a Marine battle cry to which the enlisted men present were duty-bound to respond in kind. The only thing missing from the chauvinistic landscape is a monument to ESPN’s fallen integrity.
There was a time when right-wing pundits who saw ESPN as liberal-leaning were right. Jemele Hill and Michael Smith, both unusually progressive, anchored SportsCenter on weekday evenings. Hill and Smith open the show by paying tribute to the touchstones of Black TV A different world “Woke” was probably the top of ESPN. But as the first Trump administration dragged on — and the president and his allies unleashed sharp criticism on the sports world — ESPN slowly adopted a parochial focus on sports as partisan politics bled over the white lines. Under network president Jimmy Pitaro and Bob Iger, the two-term CEO of ESPN’s parent Disney, the company that calls itself the “global leader” in sports broadcasting has discouraged employees from tiptoeing into areas where sports and politics intersect — Hill was moved from SportsCenter after attacking Trump on social media and eventually leaving the company. But after Trump’s indulgence with Fox & Friends this week, ESPN has effectively killed its “woke” era once and for all.
The dramatic shift in tone comes amid Trump’s profound encroachments on the sports world: This year he has appeared at the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500, the men’s US Open final and the Ryder Cup, to mixed reactions. Trump also announced plans to hold a live UFC event at the White House on his birthday after months of fantasizing about hosting a card on the South Lawn to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Trump reappeared at the Washington Commanders football game last Sunday following a report that he wanted the team to name its new stadium after him.
In fact, Trump brought this up, without warning, during an interview with Fox Sports at halftime of Sunday’s game. “That’s what I’m involved in,” he said of the stadium’s naming plan. “We got all the approvals and everything else. You have a great owner, Josh [Harris] And his group. “You’re going to see some very good things.”
You can’t really blame Fox Sports for kowtowing to Trump given how prominent he was in the Fox family of networks even before he first became president. It was not a surprise when broadcasters Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma did not ask Trump about the chorus of boos that greeted him when he appeared on the video screens in the stadium.
But ESPN? There are valid arguments about whether a sports network should have political leanings in one way or another. But a serious network must interrogate stories, whether their protagonists are liberal or conservative. ESPN reporters broke the story about Trump’s potential on-court dedication and couldn’t even get him to talk about the report Their own network When he appeared with McAfee who motive His decision to have Trump on the show said he had invited Barack Obama as well (whom he no doubt… He would vote three times). That’s how things go when they have McAfee, a gruff former NFL player who’s not ashamed of it Criticism of the network This made him one of its most prominent faces, doing work that had previously been reserved for the likes of Bob Lee, Keith Olbermann and other columnists who made ESPN a model of sports journalism. They certainly would have challenged Trump’s opening reference to the Washington Football Team’s former racist nickname.
“I’m joining you only because I’ve heard you say very nice things about me from your very large audience,” Trump told McAfee.
“I don’t know how much you know about me,” McAfee said, seeking sympathy. “I feel very similar about the way I treat and work with people, Mr. President.”
The past 15 years have seen ESPN abandon its fan-centered roots — revering great accomplishments, putting iconic figures in context, interrogating the larger role sports play in society — to become just another talk shop. No personality causes tinnitus quite like Steven Smith, who unironically equates himself with the biggest names in sports he covers. Smith also offers fresh takes on respectability politics, most recently taunting Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett for insulting her station with “street verbiage,” the kind of dog-whistling you’d expect from a right-wing shock jock.
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Smith and McAfee represent a large portion of ESPN’s salary cap; To make room for their multimillion-dollar contracts (Smith just signed a $105 million deal in March), ESPN has not hesitated to part ways with a number of broadcasters who upheld the company’s high vetting standards previously. Not least of them are critical thinkers Bomani Jones and Pablo Torre, who has continued to break many important stories on his podcast since leaving ESPN. The network isn’t the only one becoming less political, as athletes themselves — aside from MAGA proponents like Harrison Butker and Nick Bosa — appear reluctant to speak out on social issues, a stark contrast to Trump’s first term when stars like LeBron James and Stephen Curry seemed to champion social issues on a weekly basis.
All of this comes as ESPN finds itself struggling to maintain its media primacy at a time when it no longer has a monopoly on sports eyeballs, and is only responsible for undermining 46 years of trust and goodwill among viewers inclined to think of ESPN personalities as family. The last few weeks alone have seen the network Bumble cover Of federal gambling investigations into the NBA and MLB while Flog her online sportsbookAnd extract Dispute with YouTubeTV This kept the channel off the platform in the middle of the NFL and college football seasons.
This latest blunder is said to be costing ESPN $5 million a day in addition to significant ratings losses impacting ad revenue and subscriber engagement. Savvy TV viewers who have adapted to various streaming apps to watch their favorite sporting events aren’t much inclined to keep up with ESPN this time around, let alone sign on to its ridiculous petition imploring fans to help “end the blackouts” as the FCC has done. Encrypted by the mafia Commissioner Brandon Carr is putting pressure on both parties. (“People should have the right to watch the shows they paid for – including football,” he tweeted in response to YouTube TV’s offer $20 credit (To subscribers who are upset.) Instead of subscribing to Disney+ or the ESPN app, many ESPN viewers returned to watching pirated streams — the very crime against fair play that streaming was supposed to discourage.
Moreover, it’s not as if ESPN viewers don’t have other options. They can always get highlights on social media, or listen to podcasts from former ESPN stars like Jones and Torre.
Before The Office became a global reference point in American culture, ESPN was a send-up of workplace culture with its This Is SportsCenter ad campaign that depicted star athletes and ragtag team mascots as… Real shareholders To a company I really liked the range of sports they cover. But as long as it serves as a platform for Trump’s revanchist politics, downplays the conflicts that inevitably arise when sports and politics intersect, and betrays the loyal viewers who have made it an American institution, ESPN is not a sports powerhouse. It’s state television.