The final confrontation occurred in November, after ESPN laid off 300 employees, including Chris Cote, a producer on Le Batards radio show. Le Batard rehired Cote, paying the producers salary out of his own pocket, and said on-air that the layoff was the greatest disrespect of my professional career, that I got no notice, no collaboration.
The layoff followed a number of decisions that diminished Le Batards reach. The television simulcast of his radio show was recently moved from the cable channel ESPNews to the streaming platform ESPN+, which has tens of millions of fewer subscribers. ESPN Radio also reduced the hours that it carried Le Batards radio show, from three daily to two.
The relationship between Le Batard and ESPN was always challenging. He was known for gags that tested the humor of his bosses: The network suspended him for two days in 2014 after he commissioned billboards, and also planned to hire a plane flying a banner, to mock LeBron Jamess decision to leave the Miami Heat and return to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
A more serious conflict surfaced in the summer of 2019. Le Batard publicly criticized ESPNs tepid approach to covering politics after President Trump tweeted that four Democratic congresswomen of color should go back to the crime-infested places from which they came comments that even members of Trumps party condemned as racist.
Le Batard said on his radio show that we here at ESPN dont have the stomach for the fight.
We dont talk about what is happening unless there is some sort of weak, cowardly sports angle that we can run it through, he added. Afterward, he was summoned to New York for a meeting with ESPNs president, Jimmy Pitaro.read more
Dan Le Batard to Leave ESPN
