After pushing further and further left, ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro stepped in and stressed the important of the network "sticking to sports." He took things a little further this time when he took it from saying the network shouldn't report on "pure politics" to saying that they shouldn't cover politics at all on the network.
This angered some on the left, such as Deadspin, who of course backed ESPN trumpeting their left-leaning views. Really, if everyone puts their feelings aside, ESPN is much better when they stick to covering sports. A large percentage of Dan Le Batard's viewers, however many there are, do not tune in to hear what he has to say about President Trump. Well, on Thursday they got to hear exactly how he feels about President Trump. Spoiler alert: he doesn't like him.
There was no Dan Le Batard on his show on Friday.
No Dan on the show today. pic.twitter.com/19Q4ZYIrAO
— Dan Le Batard & Stugotz Show Reddit (@LeBatard_Reddit) July 19, 2019
A big part of what led to ESPN transitioning from talking about politics at all was Jemele Hill. After her quick ascent at ESPN, she was eventually removed after continuously attacking President Trump.
Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 11, 2017
There has been a lot of anger about employees not being able to express their political views. For example, Jemele Hill ripping Trump and Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the anthem. In the public eye these people are representing ESPN and the NFL. When they oppose President Trump and police officers, this drives many people away from their network.
There was also controversy when Laura Ingraham told LeBron to "shut up and dribble" in response to LeBron James ripping President Trump. Sure, she could have went about telling him that in a kinder way, but the point remains. We don't turn on LeBron James to hear him talk politics. Just like we don't turn on Laura Ingraham to talk basketball. It goes both ways, so no it is not racist. No matter how much the left wants to make it about that.