Paul Finebaum wasn’t shy about considering a run for the open Senate seat in Alabama. But the longtime ESPN host ultimately decided against a bid for the office. He’s now shared what swayed him against it.
In an appearance on The Takeout with Major Garrett, Finebaum said one key factor led him to determine the run for the Senate wasn’t in the cards.
“I’m just going to paraphrase the political operatives’ words: ‘you need to run against woke Disney,'” Finebaum said he was told. “And I could not do it. I could not burn down the place I had worked for the last 13 years. It had given me an opportunity as a Birmingham talk show host. Whatever you may think of Disney — and plenty of people have opinions, Disney owns ESPN, for those of you who don’t know — I couldn’t do it.
“I had several very prominent people — including two senators, sitting senators — tell me, ‘That’s your path.’ There are many other paths, obviously, to win a primary in Alabama, but they thought that was the cleanest path.”
Paul Finebaum revealed that a conversation with his wife made it clear that wasn’t something he was willing to do.
“In the end, that factor alone, that was at the top of the pyramid,” Finebaum said, before continuing with the reasons why he opted against chasing the nomination and office.
“Secondarily, was saying things that I just was not comfortable with. You can say whatever you want about me, ‘polarizing’, ‘mouth of the South’, ‘always ripping coaches’, but the one thing I’ve always wanted to do on a program is bring people together and let them fight within, under the tent. I couldn’t get up there and just draw a line and say, ‘I’m for you and I’m against you.’ It was against everything in the fiber of my body.”
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
