Mina Kimes Attempted Defense Of Ryan Clark Proves His Critics Correct | Bobby Burack

Despite his company’s best interests, ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro continues to employ Ryan Clark. Since May, Clark has apologized for race-shaming Robert Griffin III for marrying a white woman and for belittling Peter Schrager for not playing in the NFL earlier this month.

"The thing is this, though. And we shouldn’t do this on TV. So, I apologize if people think this is rude — that’s the non-player in you," Clark told Schrager on September 5.

Clark’s comments are difficult to justify and warranted an apology. Yet it wasn’t until this week that someone publicly defended him.

That someone was Mina Kimes, while once again talking about her favorite subject: how sports fans disrespect her as a woman.

"I’ll tell you who doesn’t think you have to be a former player to analyze the NFL, is Ryan Clark," Kimes told Sports Illustrated.

"Because he has been probably one of my biggest advocates since I started doing this job. And people always ask me, is it hard because of your gender, and I say, ‘Yeah, maybe because of fans.’ But so much of my career I attribute to the former players, especially the main guys on NFL Live that I work with, because they have done such a fantastic job. Not just behind the scenes, we have so many conversations about football, I can send them clips and they can answer questions. But on camera too, if you ever watch a show, they sell me, frankly, to our viewers in a way that I believe has been instrumental in me doing the job I do."

For context, Kimes has it "so hard" as a woman that ESPN pays her around $2 million a year to work from home. And that’s what makes her defense of Clark so telling. She thinks she’s helping him, but in reality, she proves his critics correct.

In fact, several people pointed out after the segment how Clark questioned Schrager’s credentials yet regularly discusses the NFL on-air with Kimes, who also never played in the league. 

See below:

In fact, Schrager has covered the NFL for more than a decade and is regarded as one of the most connected reporters in the business. By credentials alone, he is far more qualified than Kimes. Clark is also a regular on First Take with Stephen A. Smith, whose NFL knowledge is light.

So why does Clark respect Kimes and Smith but not Schrager? The blunt answer: Schrager is white.

Clark sees the world primarily through a racial lens. From watching him and from conversations with him earlier this year, it appears that he instinctively bristles when a white man challenges him, interpreting it as arrogance or superiority. That’s why he lashed out at Schrager during an otherwise benign football debate.

I challenge anyone who knows Clark to tell me I’m wrong.

Conversely, Clark grants extra respect to Kimes and Smith because he assumes they had to overcome hurdles as minorities. That’s not true, but it is the lens through which Clark operates.

Clark is also a hypocrite. He talks about skin color privilege, yet the only reason he still has a job is that his white boss is afraid to fire him. Pitaro knows that if he ever did, Clark would post a moody video with soft piano music on X, claiming his termination came from ESPN’s failure to understand his "experience as a black man."

Jimmy Pitaro is a coward.

As for Kimes, no one questions her qualifications more than she does. She has spent years trying to justify her role: uploading videos about how DEI helped her career, tweeting screenshots of trolls, whining about mean comments to Dan Le Batard, and falsely accusing OutKick of inciting "racist harassment" of her family. (We continue to ask her for examples.)

Does that sound like someone confident in her abilities? In general, if you’re qualified, you don’t spend years telling people you are — you prove it by doing the work.

Interestingly, my initial criticism of Kimes was never about her qualifications. It was about her bratty, entitled attitude. One doesn’t need to play football to know football. Chris Berman, Colin Cowherd, Schrager, Michael Wilbon, and Tony Kornheiser are proof. And plenty of women have established themselves as respectable football voices by putting in the work and staying informed – including Charissa Thompson, Jane Slater, Laura Rutledge, Kayce Smith, Erin Andrews, and Jen Lada.

I figured Kimes could eventually join those ranks. However, her flagrant insecurities now have me questioning whether her skin color and gender are, in fact, the reasons she has her position.

For the record: Mina Kimes recently sent me a text message containing one of my stories. I offered her the chance to discuss it either on or off the record. Oddly, she didn't respond after initiating the conversation. Still, the offer stands, privately or publicly.

Anyway, at least she’s not white. Otherwise, Ryan Clark wouldn't be such a helpful advocate.