As part of the “Meet the Bettors” series on Barrett Sports Media, Demetri Ravanos interviewed ESPN host Joe Fortenbaugh about a variety of topics pertaining to the industry. Within the story, which was published on Thursday morning, Ravanos wrote complimentary words of Fortenbaugh that became a topic of discussion across the early slate of ESPN Radio programming on Thursday.
“Not only was he well-versed in the practice, but Fortenbaugh is undeniably handsome,” Ravanos said. “He was a natural choice to be one of the faces of ESPN’s new Las Vegas studio.”
As part of the “Respeck It or Check It” segment on UnSportsmanLike Thursday morning, co-host Michelle Smallmon asked her colleagues if they concurred with the sentiment that Fortenbaugh is “undeniably handsome.” Co-host Evan Cohen acknowledged that he believes Fortenbaugh has been looking good of late, while co-host Chris Canty took the opposite position. Within his remarks, Canty said that any time a guy wears a vest without a sport coat on top of it or wears shirts indicative of Hawaii, he is “out on those.” Cohen then asked Canty what he would do if he was Fortenbaugh’s stylist, an inquiry to which he replied by giving him fashion advice.
“I would start by not wearing those things,” Canty said. “We can start by not wearing the mustache as the preferred method of facial hair.. I would start by not wearing the vest with no jacket or sport coat over top of it. Yeah, I would start by not wearing the Hawaii shirt with the floral prints.”
The line about Fortenbaugh being “undeniably handsome” and the subsequent opinions of those on the morning show caught the attention of ESPN Radio midday show host Chris Carlin, who outlined the situation on Carlin vs. Joe later on Thursday. Carlin did not believe that calling Fortenbaugh handsome was anything controversial, arguing that he has a striking look. After Fortenbaugh extolled him for his compliment, he issued a response to what had been said earlier in the day on ESPN Radio.
“To the issue of the morning show as a general concept, Joe Fortenbaugh is great content and they know that, and that’s why they routinely bring it into their show because they are very good with content, they recognize great content [and] they know how to talk about great content,” Fortenbaugh said. “Joe Fortenbaugh is great content, so bravo to the producers on that show – Nuno, JoVante, Pat Costello – everyone working on that show, job well done on getting that content in.”
After acknowledging the morning show and its salient decision of content selection, he addressed Canty directly pertaining to his opinion. Canty has been a member of the company since 2016 when he hosted middays with Alan Hahn and Rick DiPietro on ESPN New York and has had several different radio shows and television appearances since that time. Fortenbaugh began working at the network full time in 2020 and previously hosted a radio show with Amber Wilson before being paired with Carlin. On Thursday, he asserted that Canty has the right to have whatever opinion about him and his wardrobe that he wants.
“He doesn’t like the vest – he’s been anti-vest for quite some time, probably because he can’t fit into a vest – that is his problem, that is not mine,” Fortenbaugh said. “He lives his life, I lead mine. The hater look does not look good on a Super Bowl Champion, but that’s where we stand today.”
