Is Dan Le Batard the man responsible for BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock getting his job at ESPN back in the day? He believes he might have had something to do with it.
On, The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on Thursday, Dan reacted to Stephen A. Smith’s lengthy dressing down of Whitlock. Smith at one point in his podcast said former ESPN president and Meadowlark Media co-founder John Skipper’s biggest regret at the network was hiring Whitlock. After thinking about it, Le Batard had an epiphany.
“It is possible that Jason Whitlock got that job from Skipper because the one time I used Skipper’s phone number was to vouch for Jason Whitlock as a journalist,” Le Batard said as executive producer Mike Ryan Ruiz and the rest of the show crew cringed. Amin Elhassan said this all might be Dan’s fault, to which Dan agreed.
“It might actually be my fault,” he said.
“I don’t think Stephen A. Smith knew it until now, and I didn’t know it until now,” Le Batard added.
Ruiz responded saying Dan providing that sort of background helps tell the full story.
“This is important context, because I kind of knew of the Skipper/Undefeated thing, and you vouching for Whitlock,” Ruiz said. “Because you always vouched for Whitlock despite, clearly, my objections.”
Le Batard said he was just trying to see the best in Whitlock when vouching for him as a journalist and befriending him. Dan said Jason was someone he and his family has known throughout the years. Even Whitlock said he considered Le Batard his best friend in the industry at one point.
So even though Dan didn’t want to continue to pile on Whitlock like so many others had done since Stephen A.’s rant, it didn’t change the fact that Dan remains offended by some of the things Whitlock has said about Le Batard on his show the past five months. Le Batard said Whitlock had been “slaughtering” him and other journalists Dan cares about as early as a month ago. That’s when he tried to reach out.
“I called him a month ago several times leaving messages just to see if he’s OK,” he said. “And I haven’t talked to him in a long-ass time, because some of this stuff hurt.”
“My family knows Jason Whitlock. My brother spent time with Jason Whitlock. And we were friends,” Le Batard continued. “I like to think whether it’s David Samson or Jason Whitlock or anyone, that I try to see the best in people. People are flawed, and people are confused. I don’t want to turn this into a defense of Jason Whitlock, because he’s made me super angry.”
Dan later mentioned that he just wanted to get to the bottom of why he felt the need to say what he’s said.
“When I called him, I was genuinely curious about what’s going on with him and if he’s OK. Because this can all just be, ‘How do I get clicks, my career is ending,'” he said. “But I don’t know. I just want to know.”
