I realize that few GetReligion readers seem to care much about sports. But what about a mixture of race, religion and sports?
With that in mind, let me ask a serious journalism question linked to those three topics.
Would it be a news story — a hard-news story — if an ESPN personality (or the social-media team working with his show) asked if it was funny if an athlete who backs #BlackLivesMatters suffered a horrible, painful injury soon after making a high-profile statement about how his convictions were rooted in his faith?
Wait. We know an ESPN host and/or the show’s social-media team would never do such a thing.
But what if a conservative media star — Tucker Carlson, let’s say — asked that same question?
It’s safe to say that this would explode into mainstream news coverage.
That brings us to this headline in the New York Post (a conservative paper, of course): “ESPN’s Dan Le Batard posts poll wondering if Jonathan Isaac’s torn ACL is funny.”
Dan Le Batard issued an apology for his ill-advised poll Monday afternoon.
The ESPN radio host’s show, “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz,” ran a poll on Twitter poking fun at Magic forward Jonathan Isaac, who tore his ACL Sunday night.
Isaac was the first player in the NBA bubble not to kneel during the national anthem, and also did not wear the “Black Lives Matter” warm-up donned by the rest of his teammates.
“Is it funny the guy who refused to kneel immediately blew out his knee?” the poll asked.
Oh, right. I turned that question around, didn’t I?
Isaac is a black Christian — he is ordained, in fact — who made headlines by linking his faith to his decision not to take part in the official NBA pre-game rites. He wasn’t protesting the protests, exactly. He had a larger point that he wanted to make, one rooted in his work as a minister.
A pre-injury CBS report quoted him saying:
… I felt like, just me personally, what is that I believe is taking on a stance that, I do believe that Black lives matter, but I just felt like it was a decision that I had to make, and I didn't feel like putting that shirt on and kneeling went hand in hand with supporting Black lives. I believe that for myself, my life has been supported by gospel, Jesus Christ, and everyone is made in the image of God and that we all forge through God's glory.
Each and every one of us do things that we shouldn't do and say things that we shouldn't say. We hate and dislike things that we shouldn't hate and dislike, and sometimes it gets to a point where we point fingers, whose evil is worse, and sometimes it comes down to whose evil is most visible. So I felt like I wanted to take a stand on, we all make mistakes, but I think that the gospel of Jesus Christ is that there's grace for us, and that Jesus came and died for our sins. …
Well, sure. But how does that affect Donald Trump and Joe Biden and things that really matter?
Yesterday, I dug around at the ESPN website and couldn’t find a word about this controversy. This is, you see, another case of “conservatives” making something out of nothing, which means it deserves coverage in conservative media and/or opinion pieces.
The short New York Post reported stressed — as it should — the following:
Le Batard said multiple times on the show that he did not think it was funny, but the show’s official Twitter account still posted the poll.
In other words, it appears that ESPN tech pros knew this would be a clickbait poll item and, well, they just went for it — even though the host seemed to be reluctant.
A report on the Fox News website — again, conservative media — contained some interesting material about the history of tensions between ESPN executives and this particular host:
It’s a running joke on the program that Le Batard makes his colleagues uncomfortable when he gets serious about issues such as race. A comical “Mystery Crate of Content” segment often interrupts Le Batard when he is about to discuss something that ESPN executives wouldn’t be happy about.
Last year, ESPN reminded staffers that on-air talent should avoid stories considered “pure politics” after Le Batard slammed President Trump along with "cowardly" ESPN for not allowing employees to speak out. …
ESPN allows its personalities to discuss politics when they cross with sports, such as players skipping White House visits and athletes kneeling during the national anthem. Le Batard attempted to get the network to soften its rule and remained at ESPN after meeting with executives about the situation.
But this story didn’t really involve politics, did it?
Please read that whole CBS story about Isaac’s statement about his faith and his convictions on sin and racism. Is there anything in that statement that hints at this minister’s “political” beliefs?
Isn’t this really a story about how an elite, highly influential newsroom reacted to a black minister’s statement about his faith and his convictions about sin and forgiveness?
Just asking.