Ryan Clark's Colleagues Want ESPN To Put Foot Down After Comments To RGIII | Bobby Burack

ESPN has not commented on the viral exchange between Ryan Clark and Robert Griffin III, the former of whom is a current employee and the latter of whom used to be.

On Monday, Clark responded to Griffin's criticism of WNBA forward Angel Reese by suggesting Griffin isn't qualified to talk about black women because he is married to a white woman. Griffin responded by saying Clark "crossed the line," bringing his wife into the conversation.

Since Clark's initial post, OutKick has spoken to several on-air talents inside ESPN, all of whom strongly condemned Clark's comments. 

For background, Griffin was not well-liked while at ESPN. Clark is correct. Griffin's former colleagues considered him corny and desperate for attention. His one-year stint as an analyst for" Monday Night Countdown," on which he appeared with Clark, was met with overwhelming disapproval.

However, Clark's colleagues found it hard to justify him referencing someone's wife during a debate about sports. Bringing up someone's family in an effort to win a meaningless argument about the WNBA is wrong. It's also unprofessional and out of line.

Clark questioned someone's character because of the skin color of their spouse. That's indefensible.

SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 09: Ryan Clark, ESPN analyst, looks on before the New York Jets take on the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium on September 09, 2024 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

The ESPN talents we spoke to also emphasized that Clark implied Griffin's role as a father, son, and brother. Griffin has a black mother, four black daughters, and three black sisters. Yet Clark claimed Griffin doesn't have "conversations at his home about what black women endure."

A former NFL player turned ESPN analyst told OutKick on Tuesday, "RC is a former player. There are two rules in the locker room: you don't talk about a man's girl or their money. Ryan knows better. That shit wouldn't fly face to face."

And while Clark made his remarks on his independently owned podcast, "The Pivot," they reflect poorly on ESPN as a brand. Clark is one of the network's most visible personalities and is in the news for discussing the race of someone's wife.

Four different ESPN personalities expressed to OutKick that they hope the network addresses Clark's comments and disciplines him. One source warned that ESPN would set a damning precedent by tolerating a pundit targeting someone's family.

"Imagine how RGIII's little black girls feel, seeing a prominent figure claim their father lacks empathy for black women," the commentator told OutKick.

Of course, there is also a double standard. If a white ESPN dismissed another white man for marrying a black woman, they would have been fired before the news had a chance to trend.

That said, that is the reality of a Disney-run media operation in 2025. 

Clark's bosses include Jimmy Pitaro, Burke Magnus, Seth Markman, and Dave Roberts. All of them but Roberts are white men. And white male executives are under a heightened level of scrutiny, especially by a parent company like Disney, when handling people of color and female employees. 

There is too much risk for a white executive to suspend or fire Clark, knowing how the press would frame the situation. "White male executives punish a black man for sticking up for a black woman," the chyrons would read on MSNBC, "The Dan Le Batard Show," and "The Breakfast Club."

Clark's bosses understand that.

So, the calls for ESPN to fire Clark are unlikely to have an impact this go around. Still, that doesn't mean ESPN won't file this incident away until the next round of layoffs. That's how corporate cowardice works: companies wait and fire someone when they can claim it was a "business decision."

Either way, the racial hysteria around Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark isn't going to subside. If ESPN doesn't set a standard, more discussions about the two players will turn personal and cross that line.