They had it so good.
In 1995 Disney bought Capital Cities/ ABC Inc. for $19 billion. Along with ABC, Disney acquired the Lifetime and A&E cable channels and something called ESPN, “The Worldwide Leader in Sports.” ESPN was a cash cow for Disney. Dannel Malloy and the state of Connecticut, eager to hand out money to wildly profitable businesses, made ESPN one of its “First Five.”
In support of ESPN’s capital investment and the commitment to retain and create full-time jobs in Connecticut, the state will provide:
– A 10-year, $17.5 million loan from the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) for the construction of the facility and the creation of at least 200 jobs.
– Up to $1.2 million to fund a job training grant program ranging from $300,000 for 200 jobs created to $150,000 for each additional 100 jobs created up to 800 jobs. Job training will be developed based on ESPN’s needs.
– The Connecticut Development Authority may also assist with up to $6 million in sales use tax exemptions on capital equipment and construction materials.
“Digital Center 2 represents an exciting new chapter in ESPN’s continued growth in Connecticut,” said Ed Durso, ESPN Executive Vice President, Administration. “It will help reshape how we deliver our content to sports fans. With great, ongoing support from state and local officials, ESPN is proud to be part of the ‘First Five’ initiative.”The “First Five” program is designed to attract large-scale business development projects by augmenting and combining the state’s best incentive and tax credit programs for the first five companies that create 200 new jobs within two years, or invest $25 million and create 200 new jobs within five years.
Good times.
But then came obama and the plague known as social justice. Rather than focus on the mission (sports), the anchors at ESPN began to feel empowered- empowered to shove their left wing political views down the throats of viewers.
Exhibit 1
At the 2015 ESPYs, ESPN awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award to Caitlyn Jenner for the “enormous courage” required in her decision to publicly come out as a transgendered woman. It was a controversial decision at the time, made more so by reports that claimed Jenner’s camp lobbied for the award in exchange for PR plugs and letting ABC get an exclusive first post-surgery interview.
Exhibit 2
Earlier this week, the ESPYs opened with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Paul on stage together asking for all athletes to make an effort to affect society for the better after weeks of tragic violence around the nation. Later we learned that James went to ESPN with the idea and obviously they were happy to provide the extremely-visible spotlight.
Exhibit 3
Thursday night, ESPN and WatchESPN simulcast President Obama’s ABC News-hosted town hall on shootings across America. The commercial-free, hour-long broadcast was simulcast across many more of Disney’s channels as well but it’s notable that ESPN personality Jemele Hill is also a part of the broadcast.
Not only did ESPN make a hard left turn, it began pummeling conservatives:
Exhibit 1:
In March 2015, Sunday Countdown host Mike Ditka, who had thrown his public support behind Republican candidate Donald Trump, told a radio station that he thought Obama was “the worst president we’ve ever had.” A few days later, it was announced that Ditka would be leaving Sunday Countdown to take, as The Big Lead put it, “an unspecified emeritus-type NFL role at the network.” Ditka swore the move was his decision and unrelated to his comments.
Exhibit 2:
In April 2016, ESPN fired commentator Curt Schilling over his repost of a Facebook meme mocking trans people, the latest in a series of comments or social media controversies involving Schilling’s conservative opinions. The former MLB pitcher would go on to say that being a Republican at ESPN “felt like the underground” and that “religion on the table was a much easier topic than who you voted for.”
If only someone wrote a book that warned about doing this kind of stupid stuff.
After hemorrhaging subscribers the honchos at ESPN began to reconsider the left wing political tilt:
As the 2016 election looms, ESPN sent employees a memo telling them to avoid making any political or partisan comments.
“At ESPN, our reputation and journalistic credibility are of paramount importance — and that extends to our coverage of the Presidential Election, candidates, issues and the intersection of sports and society,” the memo reads, which was also posted to ESPN’s website two weeks ago. “Our audiences should be confident that political pressures or personal interests do not influence our news decisions.”
Way late ESPN admitted targeting conservatives was a bad idea:
“It is accurate that the Walt Disney Company and ESPN are committed to diversity and inclusion,” Skipper said. “These are long-standing values that drive fundamental fairness while providing us with the widest possible pool of talent to create the smartest and most creative staff. We do not view this as a political stance but as a human stance. We do not think tolerance is the domain of a particular political philosophy.”
Inside ESPN, however, some feel the lack of tolerance of a particular political philosophy is a problem.
“We’ve done a great job of diversity,” said longtime ESPN anchor Bob Ley. “But the one place we have miles to go is diversity of thought.”
Many ESPN employees I talked to — including liberals and conservatives, most of whom preferred to speak on background — worry that the company’s politics have become a little too obvious, empowering those who feel as if they’re in line with the company’s position and driving underground those who don’t.
“If you’re a Republican or conservative, you feel the need to talk in whispers,” one conservative ESPN employee said. “There’s even a fear of putting Fox News on a TV [in the office].”
ESPN anchor Linda Cohn weighed in:
The network may be losing the subscriber revenue not just because of cord-cutting, Cohn allowed, but because viewers are increasingly turned off by ESPN inserting politics into its sports coverage.
“That is definitely a percentage of it,” Cohn said Thursday on 77 WABC’s “Bernie and Sid” show when asked whether certain social or political stances contributed to the stupor that resulted in roughly 100 employees getting the ax this week. “I don’t know how big a percentage, but if anyone wants to ignore that fact, they’re blind.”
It might be too late. The goose is dying:
It’s a dark day at ESPN.
The sports broadcasting network sent a memo to employees early Wednesday, informing them that a series of previously announced layoffs would take place today. Familiar faces like Ed Werder, Danny Kanell, Len Elmore, Jayson Stark, Trent Dilfer and Brett McMurphy are among those who have been let go.
The total number of employees cut will be around 100, Fox News has learned.
It was stupid for ESPN to allow this to go on for as long as it did. Sports is something that can unite people of different political stripes. When you walk into the Stadium, you’re a Yankee fan and the Red Sox are the bad guys. Liberal and conservative labels don’t matter. That’s the way sports should be.
Ask Colin Kaepernick.
Never go full SJW. Just shut up and do sports.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.