ESPN NFL Analyst Ryan Clark is barking back at criticism of how The Pivot approached, taped, and edited an interview with University of North Carolina head football coach Bill Belichick. The fallout from the interview with Belichick took a turn when co-host Channing Crowder told WQAM radio on May 16 that Belichick’s 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson was “lurking” and that she “choreographed the open” and “was there and she kind of coordinates it (like a) brand manager.”
Those comments made headlines, especially coming off the CBS Sunday Morning interview earlier this month where Hudson, on camera, controlled a discussion of how Belichick and Hudson first met. In response, on Tuesday, The Pivot released an episode as a follow-up to “clear the air” on Belichick and Jordon Hudson, stemming from their interview and Crowder’s comments on WQAM. During the episode, Crowder apologized to Belichick and Hudson for his words on WQAM earlier this month.
“I just want to tell Bill, Jordon, I apologize for any negativity it brought to you,” said Crowder on Tuesday’s The Pivot podcast. “Coach, we talked on the phone. I respect you as much as I do anybody in this world. What happened and all this came out was unrealistic, and that’s the opposite of what I wanted to do for you, and what I wanted to do for your relationship, Coach. So that’s my bad, and I want to put it out there as a man.”
Following Crowder’s apology, Clark then took issue with Crowder’s comments that Hudson “choreographed” the interview on The Pivot, saying that Clark met with Belichick and Hudson for 90 minutes before the interview began with the full podcast.
“She (Hudson) and Bill sat down with me for an hour and a half before the actual interview with you two guys even started. There were points where they communicated with one another. There were points where they communicated with me. There were points where Jordon agreed to sit and answer my questions on camera,” said Clark. “The conversations we had after was before the show was released was what can we show about Bill speaking about her, and the rest of our interview. For people to sit around and say that it was choreographed a certain way because Jordon was hovering, that’s not true. She was gone during that part; she was sitting when Bill and I were together. She actually interviewed while Bill and I were together. It was three of us sitting around having a conversation that was filmed that we just didn’t release.”
As a result of these revelations, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk wrote and questioned why a podcast would cater to a guest and their representation so much when the prioritization should be with the audience and not the guest. In turn, Clark responded via social media, reiterating what he described on the podcast the day earlier, but also defended the way his show approaches how they edit and release content.
“As for serving the viewers we will not do that at the expense of people who volunteer to give us their time,” tweeted Clark. “We have had various reasons for edits, & exemptions. From contractual agreements, second thoughts, or just not liking how it felt. Moving slimy in the name of clicks is not worth the integrity of our show. Jordon was not contacted nor involved in any conversation about the timing in which what we documented could be released. That conversation took place between Bill & I.”
At this time, there is no word on if The Pivot will release the taped discussion with Belichick, Hudson, and Clark.
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