ESPN's response to Sean Strickland's vile anti-LGBTQ attack is disgracefully weak | Opinion
Mike Freeman - Sports Race and Inequality Editor,
USA Today
January 19, 2024 4:45 pm ET
Just act like it didn’t happen. Not your responsibility. Just grab the big check and run.
That’s what ESPN is doing now when it comes to the ugly, despicable, bigoted case of UFC middleweight champion
Sean Strickland, who this week, while speaking to the media prior to Saturday’s UFC 297,
went on an anti-LGBTQ rant after a reporter asked about his previous claims that having a gay son meant he failed as a father.
Just act like it didn’t happen. Not your responsibility. Just grab the big check and run. We know those people are out there.
Small, insecure, bullies and tiny, tiny people.
What’s more shocking was ESPN’s reaction to it. Let me explain.
After reading about what Strickland said, I sent an email to one of the ESPN PR representatives who works with the UFC. I asked a simple question: Would ESPN be putting out any kind of statement denouncing what Strickland said?
The response:
“I’d suggest you speak with UFC since Strickland is a UFC employee and they handle athlete relations.”
Huh?
Did you hear that sound?
That was ESPN washing its hands of this sordid mess.
It’s one thing for the UFC to condone Sean Strickland’s goon-like behavior, but shouldn’t ESPN have a higher standard?
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