ESPN To Post Essay Celebrating The Very Vile Mark Jones' Career

In 2021, ESPN launched a project called "Black History Always." The network called the initiative "a company-wide content commitment initiative to highlight black stories" 12 months out of the year, not just during February for Black History Month.

On Wednesday, ESPN announced its plans to expand Black History Always with an "all-black staff" for an upcoming NBA broadcast on February 5.

"Veteran play-by-play voice Mark Jones will call the action with analyst Richard Jefferson and reporter Lisa Salters as they comprise the broadcast team, while the game’s broadcast will be produced by Rodney Vaughn and Paul Ervin, the press release detailed.

"ESPN’s NBA studio programming on February 5 will also be led by an all-Black team as Malika Andrews hosts both NBA Today (3-4 p.m. ET) and NBA Countdown (6:30-7 p.m.) from ESPN’s Los Angeles Production Center. ESPN NBA commentators, including analysts Chiney Ogwumike, Udonis Haslem and Kendrick Perkins, will join Andrews for both shows on ESPN. The February 5 edition of NBA Countdown will be produced by Demetrius Harris and Terrell Bouza."

Granted, the promotion of an all-black "NBA Today" and "NBA Countdown" is hardly unique, considering that the two shows regularly exclude any white, Hispanic, or Asian commentators.

Nonetheless, we couldn't help but notice (as in cringe) one of the planned projects for this year's Black History Always. Per ESPN, the network will publish an essay celebrating "the broadcasting career of Mark Jones."

Yeah, that Mark Jones.

No honest initiative should include a celebration of Jones. See, one would be hard-pressed to find a single commentator on any network that has posted more vile and hateful content than Jones has.

Here's a running list of some of the posts Mark Jones has put on his X/Twitter page over the past three years:

• Baseless accusations that stadium police officers were going to shoot him dead because he is black.
• Tweets telling Rush Limbaugh to "rot in hell" the day his wife announced he had died of lung cancer.
• Lies about the police murdering Jacob Blake, who is still alive.
• Posts calling Stephen A. Smith a "coon."
• Posts calling his white colleagues and bosses "blind to racism in front of him."
• Tweets celebrating Nick Bosa tearing his ACL as "payback for standing for the national anthem" and supporting Donald Trump.
• Claims that the Batman character is rooted in racism.
• A photo saying, "MAGA women are skanks."
• Claims that Gov. Ron DeSantis is a "member of the KKK." (He's not.)
• Claims that Aaron Rodgers is a member of QAnon. (He's not.)
• Statements that white people "appropriated" Jesus.
• Debunked claims that the police shot Breonna Taylor when they saw her skin color. (They never saw her.)
• A tweet from Bishop Talbert Swan that white people are "demonic forces of evil."
• A tweet comparing Jason Whitlock to a house slave from the film "Django Unchained."
• Tweets calling Queen Elizabeth a "racist" on the day she died.

ESPN's Mark Jones.

ESPN has not responded to multiple requests for comment on Jones' posts. 

The network did, however, recently reward him with a contract extension. Apparently, falsely accusing the police of trying to shoot you and cheering for the death of conservative cancer victims is worth a raise at ESPN.  And, of course, an essay of celebration as part of Black History Always.

By the way, Jones recently quit Twitter because it was too hateful. 

"This place is too hateful. Catch me on the happy side.@espnmarkjones.bsky.social. I’m fresher than Febreeze😂✊🏽," Jones said. "Bout to be out this bih."

In addition to a 63-year-old man using the word "bih" online, you can't help but chuckle at a guy who called MAGA women "skanks" complaining that the internet is too mean to him.

Wonder if ESPN will include Jones' tweets, false allegations, posts rooting for players to suffer injuries, or juvenile behavior in the essay about his career. Will the essay mention the fact that ESPN is afraid to fire him, knowing he has the race card firmly in his back pocket?

Seems relevant.