We have another update from the dumpster fire over at ESPN. Besides the sports network suspending Jemele Hill for suggesting Cowboys fans boycott the team’s advertisers, which has irked Al Sharpton, we have this from former reporter Britt McHenry: she was reportedly told not to like any conservative-leaning tweets. McHenry speculated that this rigid policy was due to Disney CEO’s Bob Iger’s potential 2020 run for president (via Fox Business):
McHenry says while she was an employee at the network, conservatives didn’t feel as comfortable expressing themselves.
“I can just speak from being conservative, a lot of people who felt the same as I did were timid to express their opinions,” McHenry said on Varney & Co.
In McHenry's opinion, the perceived control over political speech was potentially due to Disney CEO Bob Iger’s rumored political ambitions.
McHenry said she was told by ESPN management to, “not even like conservative-leaning tweets on Twitter.”
ESPN stepped on a rake when Hill tweeted that President Trump was a white supremacist and was not punished over that absurd tweet. Curt Schilling was fired for much less with his commentary on transgender bathrooms. Longtime anchor Linda Cohn was suspended for suggesting that the network’s dabbling in politics could be one of the reasons why ESPN’s subscription base is declining. Clay Travis of Outkick The Coverage wrote that Hill wasn’t suspended reportedly because Iger didn’t want to hurt her feelings. Yet, most damning were Travis’ quotes from employees at the network who noted the double standards and the political correctness infesting the office space. One said, “I pretend I’m a Democrat so I can keep my job here.”