ESPN has suspended veteran sportscaster Linda Cohn after she accused her employer of talking too much about politics.
As first reported by Clay Travis of Fox Sports Radio, ESPN president John Skipper told Cohn not to come into work and “think about what she said.”
Cohn has been a staple of ESPN’s Sportscenter, working as an anchor since 1992.
However, she has been rather outspoken about politics’ place within ESPN and Sportscenter. She went on record in April during an interview with “the Bernie and Sid Show” (h/t Sports Illustrated) that politics were becoming a sizable problem within the industry.
But the decision to suspend Cohn seems harsh given the recent events involving another ESPN on-air personality.
Jemele Hill, host of “The Six,” went on a Twitter tirade about President Donald Trump on Monday where she held little back.
While her tweets have been deleted, this is what they said:
“Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself with other white supremacists… The height of white privilege is being able to ‘ignore’ his white supremacy, because it’s of no threat to you. Well, it’s a threat to me… Trump is th emost ignorant, offensive president of my lifetime. His rise is a direct result of white supremacy. Period.”
Regardless of your stance on Trump, Hill’s comments are far more harsh and far less professional than anything Cohn has done. But I suppose ESPN draws the line if you begin making observations about them instead of government officials.
While Cohn is facing suspension, Hill was given nothing more than an internal slap on the wrist:
ESPN Statement on Jemele Hill: pic.twitter.com/3kfexjx9zQ
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 12, 2017
Now I’m not saying Hill deserves to be fired or to have any sort of discipline brought down upon her. But I am saying it’s pretty disappointing to see ESPN deal with one of its longest-tenured workers such as Cohn like this.
