Over the weekend, plenty of ESPN personalities trudged into waters the company deemed too hot for them just a few short weeks ago. Despite network president Jimmy Pitaro’s reiterating that politics were off limits for ESPN in the wake of Dan Le Batard calling chants at one of President Trump’s rallies racist, plenty of high profile ESPN employees took to Twitter to demand the federal government take action in the wake of two mass shootings over the weekend.
A gunman at a Wal-Mart in El Paso, Texas killed 21 people on Saturday. Hours later 9 others were killed by a gunman in Dayton, Ohio. Both shooters cited a fear of immigrants and a belief in white supremacy as part of their respective motivations.
It seems unlikely that Pitaro will suspend anyone for Tweets on this issue. In fact, it could reasonably be argued that the messages in these Tweets are not necessarily political.
Given what he just went through with Dan Le Batard and with so many big names feeling passionate enough to speak out on gun violence in the wake of Saturday’s shootings, it will be interesting to see what moves Jimmy Pitaro makes. With a sure-to-be-contentious election looming in 2020, it may make sense for him to move the goal posts and allow ESPN’s on-air staff to behave differently on Twitter than when they are on ESPN platforms.
Whatever decision Pitaro makes, what is for sure is his no politics policy has painted ESPN and himself into a corner. His job certainly won’t get any easier as next year’s presidential election draws closer.
