Fox News' Tucker Carlson and Fox Sports' Clay Travis ripped into ESPN on Tuesday after one of the network's anchors accused President Donald Trump and his supporters of being bigots.
Carlson introduced a "Tucker Carlson Tonight" segment by saying ESPN, which stands for "Entertainment and Sports Programming Network," has been acting more like "Endless Stupid Political Nagging" as their coverage has shifted to focus more on politics than sports.
Carlson and Travis then discussed a recent incident involving ESPN anchor Jemele Hill. The anchor went on a "bizarre twitter rant" Monday, accusing Trump of being a white supremacist and surrounding himself largely with other white supremacists.
Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself w/ other white supremacists.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) September 11, 2017
Hill followed the initial tweet with more than a dozen follow-up tweets. Network executives responded by saying they talked to Hill about her comments, and they had "addressed" the matter. Hill was not fired, although the network has fired those who have said they supported Trump or conservative issues, including Curt Schilling and "Da Coach" Mike Ditka.
ESPN Statement on Jemele Hill: pic.twitter.com/3kfexjx9zQ
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 12, 2017
Travis said the response essentially means "nothing actually happened because Jemele Hill is saying what the higher-ups at ESPN believe."
The Fox Sports reporter previously broke the story in August of how ESPN pulled broadcaster Robert Lee from covering a University of Virginia football game because his name was similar to Confederate General Robert E. Lee. After receiving backlash for the decision, the network said it made the decision out of concern for Lee's safely. Critics argued ESPN was worried about offending someone by simply having the same name as the Civil War general.
Travis said the liberal slant at ESPN comes from the top, from Disney network executives who believe being a left-leaning network is a good business decision. He noted that Disney CEO Bob Iger follows only 59 people on Twitter. One of them is Hill.
The network, however, is in financial trouble and "collapsing." The company is facing waves of layoffs following a massive drop in viewership. Travis said ESPN is "alienating their core audience" because most sports viewers want to "pop a beer" and don't want to hear about progressive political views while watching the game. Sports fans would rather watch sports instead of watching a sports-themed version of a liberal cable news channel.
Travis added that current ESPN employees have contacted him, worried they may soon be out of jobs due to the network's tanking ratings.