ESPN Hit with Avalanche of Criticism for Bizarrely Editing Video Clip To Snub Ex-Employee
It seemed like the frigid relationship between ESPN and former employee Bill Simmons had thawed in recent years.
Simmons has appeared on the podcast of ESPN’s Zach Lowe and vice versa, and his website The Ringer hosts the podcast of long-time ESPN radio host Ryen Russillo.
But after “The Worldwide Leader” purposely edited Simmons out of an interview it recently aired, it’s clear that there is still acrimony, at least on ESPN’s side.
Simmons interviewed NBA Commissioner Adam Silver Friday at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. ESPN showed clips of the interview but deliberately zoomed in on Silver so Simmons was left out of the picture.
ESPN removed @BillSimmons from this morning’s episode of @GetUpESPN
This ranks up there with Henry Cavil’s mustache in JLA pic.twitter.com/4nkuB39IMG
— David Astramskas (@redapples) March 6, 2019
Simmons took note of ESPN’s petty move and pointed it out in a tweet to his nearly 6 million Twitter followers.
“They should have just replaced me with a hologram of Rachel Nichols,” he said.
2-min Mark… Incredible CGI efforts by “Get Up” to cut me out of last Friday’s Adam Silver interview. They should have just replaced me with a hologram of Rachel Nichols. Come on @jalenrose defend your boy. ?https://t.co/wgfkfpTc1a
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) March 6, 2019
Many people on social media mocked ESPN for the move.
Lol. They are a multi billion dollar corporation that is acting like a dumped 8th grader??
— Paul Gagne (@TheKiddsTable) March 6, 2019
Clairvoyant Bill replaced with Clear-voyant Bill.
— Pat Henyan (@Henyan50) March 6, 2019
@espn was like… pic.twitter.com/ND2CAclbl7
— saisonpapi (@_knyck) March 6, 2019
@espn snapping Bill out of existence pic.twitter.com/MUwgsQ9Fyx
— Shawn Young (@soybomb7) March 6, 2019
This is some salty ex-girlfriend type stuff lol https://t.co/mC23MT7rJi
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) March 7, 2019
Richard Deitsch of The Athletic said ESPN issued a statement on the matter:
“There is absolutely nothing to this. It’s a non-story. We ran clips of Adam Silver with Bill Simmons on ESPN shows/platforms.”
A statement from ESPN PR on Bill Simmons/Get Up:
“There is absolutely nothing to this. It’s a non-story. We ran clips of Adam Silver with Bill Simmons on ESPN shows/platforms.”
They sent along this handsome screen grab as part of the response. pic.twitter.com/A39iR43v2V
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) March 7, 2019
ESPN’s pettiness somewhat overshadowed the interesting interview Simmons had with Silver at Sloan. The commissioner touched on a number of topics, including the mental state of players today.
Silver said he sometimes can sense unhappiness or isolation when meeting players.
“If you’re around a team in this day and age, there are always headphones on,” he said, according to Boston.com. “(The players) are isolated, and they have their heads down.’’
“When I meet with them, what surprises me is that they’re truly unhappy,” Silver said. “A lot of these young men are generally unhappy.”
“We are living in a time of anxiety,” he said, according to ESPN. “I think it’s a direct result of social media.”
“I’m an anxious person myself,” Silver said, joking a little. “That’s why the players like talking to me.”
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