Both Bob Raissman and Phil Mushnick unloaded on ESPN over the weekend, taking issue with the network’s lack of coverage over their own on-air personality/ex-Eagle Hugh Douglas, allegedly calling colleague Michael Smith an “Uncle Tom” (contrasting said silence with the wall-to-wall scrutiny afforded Riley Cooper). That the latter story was a bigger deal doesn’t necessarily strike me as weird (or, as some would gleefully suggest, reverse-racist) ; Cooper’s offensive comments got a ton of attention, but a big reason for that was because there’s phone-cam footage all over YouTube that blogs can embed and “SportsCenter” can replay as many times as they wish. To date, there’s been no footage released of Douglas’ behavior during or after the National Association of Black Journalists Convention and Career Fair. If there were, I think it is safe to say you’d have already seen it many times. Perhaps not on ESPN, but many other places.
(Mushnick compared the treatment of Cooper to the way Delmon Young is still drawing a paycheck, ignoring for instance, how Young was promptly arrested and charged by the NYPD.
In any event, it would seem ESPN’s finally investigated the matter and concluded that Douglas’ actions justify termination. If Raissman and Mushnick are keeping score, they’ll note that Riley Cooper aka THE WHITE GUY, still has a job. From SI.com’s Richard Deitsch :
Former NFL player and Numbers Never Lie panelist Douglas was let go by ESPN today after disturbing details emerged last week from Deadspin and The Big Lead regarding an alleged confrontation between Douglas and ESPN Numbers Never Lie host Michael Smith at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention and Career Fair in Orlando. ESPN issued a statement last Tuesday saying, “We are aware there was a disagreement between Hugh Douglas and Michael Smith. We are looking into the situation.”
Douglas tweeted shortly after the news of his dismissal broke, but largely reserved comment.