ESPN, the worldwide leader in sports has been banging the social justice alarm for months. While broadcasters and analysts used to actually talk sports, they have been putting in overtime since the spring talking about racist cops and racial justice.
The sports giant recently forwarded the radical tweet from Colin Kaepernick to their 36 million followers calling the policing profession a “white supremacist institution” that must be “abolished.”
That was preceded by College Gameday host Kirk Herbstreit crying on the air about racial injustice among many other personalities making statements.
Colin Kaepernick spoke out after the police officers involved in Breonna Taylor's shooting were not indicted on charges related to her death. pic.twitter.com/s4Ea9BGiRM
— ESPN (@espn) September 24, 2020
While it’s certainly the right of ESPN to promote whatever they like, their employees are learning the hard way this week of what happens when your core mission, sports, is ignored.
The Spun reports that several hundred employees at ESPN will be laid off in the coming weeks.
In addition, many of the executives and high profile talent are reportedly taking a salary cut.
ESPN is not alone.
The NBA Playoff ratings have taken a 70% dive while Thursday night NFL did the same.
Monday Night football is currently the most watched and they are down 17%.
While COVID-19 has certainly played a role, athletes and broadcast channels defending felons attacking cops and calling America racist can’t be helping.
