Paul Finebaum To Return To ESPN Programming Following OutKick Call Out

SEC Network host Paul Finebaum hasn't appeared on ESPN since he sat down last week for a wide-ranging interview OutKick's Clay Travis that touched on a possible Senate run and the killing of a potential interview with President Trump, and there are conflicting accounts of whether he'll reappear on the network on Tuesday. 

Finebaum, who appears on a wide array of ESPN programming on a weekly basis throughout the college football season, has not made several of his regularly scheduled appearances since the interview dropped last week.

"Disney/ESPN has removed Finebaum from appearing on ESPN since his OutKick interview expressing interest in running as a Republican for senate in Alabama," Travis tweeted. "ESPN has canceled all network appearances on all shows, including some that have occurred for a decade plus." 

Finebaum has continued to host his radio and TV show, The Paul Finebaum Show, which airs on the SEC Network and ESPN Radio. Additionally, Finebaum took his usual spot on SEC Nation on Saturday morning. 

ESPN PR denies that the network canceled several Paul Finebaum hits following his interview with OutKick founder Clay Travis.

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However, he was notably absent from Sunday morning's edition of SportsCenter, a guest spot which Finebaum has made regularly since joining ESPN in 2014. 

ESPN's Vice President of Communications, Bill Hofheimer, posted on social media that Travis' report was "totally false." Hofheimer also sent a statement to OutKick: "Finebaum was never banned. Any reporting on this is totally false."

Travis then responded to Hofheimer. 

Scheduled To Appear, Or Not?

An ESPN source with knowledge of the situation told OutKick on Monday afternoon that Finebaum is scheduled to appear on Tuesday's First Take as well as on SportsCenter next weekend. The source added that the hits were scheduled a while ago, and not as a response to Monday's events. 

However, as someone who worked at ESPN for 10 years, it strains credulity that someone would have booked an ESPN talent that far in advance for SportsCenter appearances. That's not how it works. 

In addition, a source with knowledge of Finebaum's schedule said earlier Monday that the 70-year-old SEC Network host is not booked for Tuesday's show. OutKick reached out to a First Take producer to ask if anyone had booked Finebaum for Tuesday's show, but the producer declined to comment. 

UPDATE: Clay Travis reported that ESPN finally invited Paul Finebaum to appear on First Take on Tuesday morning, but not until hours after OutKick's initial report was published. 

It's unclear if there was a directive from network executives, either at ESPN or parent company Disney, to exclude Finebaum from ESPN programming because of his interview with Travis, or because of what he said to the OutKick founder. 

Finebaum expressed a desire to run for the United States Senate as a Republican in Alabama, much like Stephen A. Smith has flirted with the idea of a presidential run as a Democrat. 

Finebaum also accused ESPN of killing a potential interview at the White House with President Donald Trump in 2019. Finebaum, who lined up the interview prior to the LSU-Alabama showdown six years ago, said he let executives at ESPN know that he had an opportunity to interview the president. 

"I called my boss, and they killed it. I was devastated. They told me that we were not allowed to mix politics with sports… It was a turning point for me," Finebaum said of ESPN's decision to deny him the opportunity to interview the president. 

"It was just about the idea of going to the White House to interview the President of the United States. It wasn't about politics; it was about the game that he was going to attend, the biggest game of the year in college football. I never exactly knew where the kill button came from, but it didn't happen." 

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect Bill Hofheimer's statement to OutKick, additional comments from ESPN and a source with knowledge of Paul Finebaum's schedule.