#1
As the self-proclaimed "worldwide leader in sports," ESPN does indeed unearth some of the most important, entertaining and captivating stories that sports have to offer.
But all too often, it can sometimes seem ESPN employees become stories themselves for misdeeds of their own.
Reporter Britt McHenry, shown atop this post interviewing NFL player Steve Smith, was the latest ESPN-er to become a paragon of ignominy last week, when she was caught on video berating an employee of a tow-truck company.
From McHenry to Rush Limbaugh (yup, the Rush Limbaugh), here are 10 times ESPN employees acted like total jerks in recent years:
#2 Britt McHenry
McHenry was caught on tape in April 2015 absolutely laying into a tow-truck company employee, as seen in the video, above. McHenry blasted the employee's appearance, education and weight, sparking predicable outrage across the web.
"Lose some weight, baby girl," she sneered at the end.
McHenry offered an apology on Twitter, and was suspended for one week by ESPN.
#3 Skip Bayless
Bayless, a notorious provocateur, said on-air in October 2014 that Kobe Bryant became a better sneaker pitchman after he was accused of rape in 2003 because the charges gave him edge and "sizzle."
Predictably, this position stirred outrage, but ESPN did not publicly discipline him.
#4 Hugh Douglas
ESPN fired Douglas, an NFL analyst and former player, in August 2013 after he allegedly called another black employee with the company an "Uncle Tom" and threatened to beat him up at a convention.
#5 Rob Parker
Parker, a columnist for ESPN, was fired in January 2013 after he suggested on-air that Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III was a "cornball brother" and only "kind of black."
#6 Rick Reilly
Reilly wrote a September 2013 column defending the name of the NFL team in Washington, D.C. The column included a quote from a Blackfeet tribal elder saying he had no problem with the team's nickname. But the elder later said he'd been misquoted by Reilly, and that he did in fact take issue with the team's name.
Making matters more awkward, the elder who claimed he was misquoted was Reilly's father-in-law. Reilly tweeted that they cleared the air afterward.
#7 Stephen A. Smith
As the NFL was embroiled in the Ray Rice scandal in autumn 2014, talking head Smith delivered a rambling monologue suggesting that women are sometimes to blame for domestic violence perpetrated against them.
ESPN suspended him for a week.
#8 Jay Mariotti
Mariotti, at the time an ESPN talking head and AOL sports columnist, was arrested on felony domestic violence charges in August 2010. The story got worse from there, and effectively marked the end of his tenure at ESPN.
#9 Steve Phillips
Baseball Tonight analyst and former New York Mets general manager Steve Phillips was at the center of a 2009 scandal that ended with the network deciding it was time to "part ways."
The short version of the story is that the married Phillips initiated an affair with a 22-year-old production assistant who reportedly made $10 per hour.
#10 Ron Franklin
ESPN fired Franklin, a longtime play-by-play announcer, in January 2011 after an incident with a female colleague. Franklin reportedly called sideline reporter Jeannine Edwards "sweet baby," then called her an expletive after she objected to the term.
#11 Rush Limbaugh
You probably forgot because you probably have better things to remember, but the notorious conservative radio host Limbaugh briefly worked for ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown show in 2003. Then, that October, he got in hot water for suggesting that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb received favorable treatment from writers and reporters because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed. He resigned soon after.
