ESPN Layoffs To Start Next Week
ESPN will begin layoffs next week.
Plans for cuts have loomed over the company since the start of the new year as part of parent company Disney’s strategy to cut 7,000 jobs over the course of three rounds.
Next week's second round will include employees of ESPN, sources confirm to OutKick.
The second round of cuts will focus mostly on behind-the-scenes employees, with talent layoffs coming in round three.
A report from the New York Post adds that ESPN could ask various on-air personalities to take substantial pay cuts to remain employed.
At that point, talents would project if they could make more money elsewhere. And some could. Others, not so much.
Imagine Elle Duncan on the open market, where other networks would stand appalled that she's among the highest-paid anchors at the company.
There's been speculation, including from Stephen A. Smith, that no one is safe from incoming layoffs.
We disagree. There's a list of personalities we can confidently say are, in fact, safe.
The list includes the stars: Stephen A. Smith, Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Adam Schefter, Mike Greenberg, Scott Van Pelt, and Kirk Herbstreit.
And those with the race card firmly in their back pocket: Mark Jones, Bomani Jones, Mina Kimes, the mentally unstable Stanley Verrett, Kendrick Perkins, Ryan Clark, and Domonique Foxworth.
#Privilege.
Faces of privilege.
ESPN Layoffs Unlikely To Include Race Baiters
So as cost-effective as it would be to cut Bomani Jones and Mark Jones for their negative ROI, ESPN would not dare risk a move that could land the network in the crosshairs of race-baiting media writers.
In 2017, the network laid off 250 individuals. Danny Kanell, Marc Stein, Ron Jaworski, Ed Werder, and Trent Dilfer were among the notable cuts. They shared one similarity: they were white males.
So don't be surprised if and when ESPN takes a similar approach this time around, even if the number of white men on ESPN television is now only a group minuscule in size.
The good news for cut employees is that the market is stronger than in 2017.
The advent of digital media has created landing spots from FanDuel to DraftKings, from Barstool to the Ringer, to Amazon to Peacock.
Look for Fanatics to also get involved in sports media.
Oh, and Dan Le Batard's Meadowlark Media is sure to provide a soft landing spot for any wokes who get the boot. (Le Batard will hire you even if you were arrested for beating your wife -- as long as you have the right political opinions.)
And we hope each of them land somewhere.
We mean that sincerely. Their families should not bear the burden of an inept business strategy by Disney.