ESPN Silent On Employees Breaking 'Ban on Politics' To Criticize Trump and Vance

When Jimmy Pitaro took over as ESPN president in 2018, he informed staffers and reporters during a press conference that the network would no longer openly discuss politics.

"[ESPN] is not a political organization," said Pitaro. "We are a sports media company."

Pitaro kept good on his word until about 2020, following the death of George Floyd and the lead into the election. 

Several on-air employees have since criticized Trump, advocated for Democrats to win elections, spoke out against state abortion laws, downplayed the deadly BLM riots, and peddled falsehoods regarding Jan. 6.

ESPN did not condemn one of them publicly. Since 2018, ESPN has disciplined just one talent for breaking the supposed "ban on politics." That was, of course, Sage Steele, the only openly conservative pundit at the network. 

Steele settled a lawsuit with ESPN/Disney last year, in which she provided examples of the network allowing her liberal colleagues to discuss non-sports issues but suspended her for doing the same. You can see some of those examples here.

Six years after sticking out his chest with authority, liberal talents have once again demonstrated they do not fear Pitaro. ESPN employees have shown no recent hesitation in voicing their opinions about the 2024 election cycle.

On Tuesday, Elle Duncan weighed in on vice presidential nominee JD Vance:

"Making snap judgements on childless ppl whilst trying to prevent some families from utilizing the only hope they have of expanding their family is the real sociopathic behavior. Sending love to the ppl being attacked for making choices w/ IN and in many cases OUTSIDE of their control."

"SportsCenter" anchor Nicole Briscoe did the same, commenting above Duncan's post:

"I would not have children if not for IVF. I also would have died in late 2020 due to an ectopic pregnancy if not for medical professionals having access to the right medicines and procedures."

Jimmy Pitaro speaks onstage at Variety's Sports & Entertainment Breakfast presented by City National Bank at the Maybourne Beverly Hills on July 21, 2022 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Katie Jones/Variety via Getty Images)

Duncan and Briscoe have free speech rights protected by Connecticut, the state in which both work. And Briscoe's situation is saddening. We feel for her. Both women are worthy of expressing their political concerns. Everyone is.

However, we struggle to rationalize how Duncan and Briscoe referencing Vance to discuss real-life issues is any different from Steele questioning Barack Obama identifying as "black" when, like her, he has a white mother.

"I’m like, ‘Well, congratulations to the president. That’s his thing.’ I think that’s fascinating considering his black dad was nowhere to be found, but his white mom and grandma raised him, but hey, you do you. I’m going to do me," Steele told Jay Cutler in 2021.

Those comments led to Steele's suspension.

OutKick asked ESPN on Wednesday why employees are allowed to discuss Vance and IVF but Steele was punished for commenting on Obama. Network spokesman Josh Krulewitz did not respond.

In an even more egregious example of hypocrisy, ESPN would not comment on why columnist David Dennis is permitted to call Donald Trump a racist. 

Dennis – a DEI hire and son of a civil rights activist – is currently spiraling on social media over Trump's sit down for an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists this week:

Good to see a guy who would have to load boxes at UPS for a job if it weren't for his dad becoming an authority for black journalists. Talk about privilege.

Stephen A. Smith, the face of ESPN, acknowledged the core flaw in ESPN's "ban on politics" last summer: the policy is vividly inconsistent.

"You can't let one person get away with [taking politics] and not let the other person get away with it," Smith said. "The rules have to be for everybody."

Of course, the rules are not for everybody. President Pitaro picks and chooses who can and cannot step outside the lanes of sports, based on political ideology and skin color.

Jimmy Pitaro is a weak leader. He allows social media and the New York Times to manipulate how ESPN governs. His employees feed off his cowardice.

Elle Duncan knows she can post about Vance and left-wing talking points because Pitaro has allowed her to before. 

According to sources, Pitrao defended Duncan against other executives when she protested live from the set of "SportsCenter" about the Supreme Court giving abortion rights back to the states.

Duncan even interrupted the women's college basketball tournament in 2021 to let viewers know she rejected the erroneously dubbed "Don't Say Gay" bill, to no apparent pushback from management.

Lightweights like Briscoe and Dennis are also aware that ESPN has failed to address their colleagues comparing red state voting laws to genocide in China, calling Christianity "bullshit," and referring to conservative women as "skanks." 

Simply put, Pitaro has enabled the overly toxic and partisan workplace that has come to define ESPN. 

Pitaro best regain control of his locker room from before the election. If not, ESPN will find itself in the same position it did before his arrival: on par politically with MSNBC with a profound erosion of sports fans.