Jalen Rose, Jay Williams Are Just Following ESPN’s Racialized Cultureby Bobby Burack about 4 hours ago
As ESPN continues to slash salaries and lose personalities to competitors, talent agents and employees have recognized there are only two bulletproof groups in sports media: the superstars and the race analysts. And because there are only so many Stephen A. Smiths and Scott Van Pelts, the latter group has grown with out-of-placed followers.
In high school, followers take after the popular students. In corporate America, followers imitate overachievers. Overachievers at major companies sound and tweet alike. And because they so often have nothing interesting to say, they all play victim and agree that white people are, at best, privileged and, at worst, racist.
ESPN employees, in particular, feel pressured to racialize each topic they discuss, to view every subject through a racial lens. And they obey for good reason. They saw the company tell radio legend Mike Golic that he couldn’t stay, even at reduced pay; they see that Mark Jones’ gross and racist tweets shield him from criticism and give him job security.
However, the problem is that so few people — at ESPN or otherwise — racialize topics with sense. It’s hard to fit in. Jokes are funny until the weird guy at the end of the bar repeats them so that he can fit in. Then, no one laughs. Racial victimhood plays out much the same way today, and the ESPN B-team is the creepy bar guy. ...
Outkick