Dan Le Batard regrets putting his interview with Michele Tafoya on the air. Tafoya told FOX News that she felt “ambushed” in the interview.
Le Batard said on this week’s House of Strauss podcast that was never his intention, but admits that “it just went off the rails immediately because my introduction was awkward.”
During the June interview, Le Batard introduced Tafoya by saying “I have read recently that you have been on the dark side, secretly on the dark side.”
Since leaving NBC Sports, Michele Tafoya has been involved in conservative politics and has been outspoken regarding her beliefs on hot button issues like critical race theory. Dan Le Batard said that he didn’t schedule the interview hoping it would create a moment that would go viral.
“I don’t gain anything from how that played out,” he told Ethan Struass. “I don’t want clicks gratuitously, I’m not in the cheapened click business. I really went into that conversation with Michele Tafoya hoping that the conversation would be, ‘Hey, this was somebody I had a friendly, cordial relationship with. Let’s see if we make some art here reconnecting after 15 years. Not combative art, just catching up because this bridge can be traversed by people who know each other a little bit.’ And then it went off the rails from the start.”
In hindsight, Le Batard says he wishes the interview had never seen the light of day.
“If I had some do overs there, I would like to do it over and I’m not sure I would have even run it, given what the fallout was. Because we just went in circles. It was just combative, I didn’t think it was a good look for anybody.”
