Executive Cowardice Responsible For Endless ESPN on ESPN Crime

The lack of leadership within ESPN is evident by way of the public infighting from its front-facing employees.

Drama at a major media company is unavoidable. But when that drama boils into the public light, it suggests employees no longer fear their superiors.

That is the case at ESPN. The network has lost control of its locker room.

Over the weekend, eccentric SportsCenter host Stan Verrett shared a tweet of someone criticizing his colleague Dan Orlovsky for saying Lamar Jackson needed to succeed in the playoffs to be considered a great quarterback.

Verrett then tweeted above the video that anyone who utters what Orlovsky utters is "deliberately obtuse" -- as in stupid.

In a vacuum, a network would not hesitate to defend Orlovsky and hold Verrett accountable.

Orlovsky is one of the stars of the network. Verrett is not. He's dead weight. He can't pronounce the names of the athletes he covers.

Verrett is mentally unstable:

ESPN agrees.

Sources inside the building say the network wanted to lay Verrett off last summer but feared the inevitable racial backlash.

So, instead, the network opted to fire his co-host, Ashley Brewer, who is younger, cheaper, more talented, and stable mentally.

Why is ESPN so afraid?

Verrett's Twitter history is full of different variations of you don't like me because I'm black, some of which he has deleted:

Others remain:

ESPN doesn't want to be next.

We asked Norby Williamson, Verrett's boss, if he planned to address the posts. We also asked him if the network plans to defend Orlovsky.

Williamson did not respond. But we caught wind he read the email.

Decoded: he does not plan to do anything about Verrett smearing Orlovsky on social media.

Speaking of Williamson, he was recently at the center of another ESPN on ESPN incident.

Readers likely remember the name "Norby" from earlier this month when Pat McAfee called Williamson a "rat" on air.

“I believe, Norby Williamson is the guy who is attempting to sabotage our program,” McAfee said.

“Now, I’m not 100% sure. That is just seemingly the only human that has information, and then that information gets leaked, and it’s wrong, and it sets a narrative of what our show is.”

We'd be remiss not to mention the humor in ESPN allowing McAfee to publicly deride Williamson after Williamson long allowed his employees to do the same to each other.

Like Mark Jones.

Last year, Jones shared a tweet calling Stephen A. Smith, the face of the company, a "coon" for defending Jerry Jones over a 65-year-old photo:

Mark Jones then shared a tweet saying JJ Redick's whiteness blinds him to "racism in front of him."

Instead of asking Jones to take down the post, the network paired Jones with Redick during various NBA broadcasts this season.

It's called privilege.

There are few media companies for which you can work and call your colleagues racists and coons. ESPN is one of them.

Well, at least if you have the race card firmly in your back pocket ready for use. Or if the colleague whom you smear is a conservative.

Last May, Sarah Spain drew headlines for liking tweets calling her co-worker Sam Ponder as a "bigot."

What did Ponder do to warrant Spain framing her as a bigot? She said men and women are not the same, and thus should not compete in physical competition.

Damn her.

Sources say ESPN did not reach out to Ponder or defend her in any way.

Nor did the network when Nicole Briscoe and Ryan Clark shared disparaging tweets about former ESPN host Sage Steele, per her lawsuit.

There were likely more. ESPN settled with Steele before such information was disclosed.

Ultimately, Verrett's posts about Orlovsky are not a blip. They are part of a trend, a trend ESPN enabled.

ESPN executives are not stupid people, per se. They do not enjoy employees shooting inside the tent.

Rather, they are afraid of punishing the wrong employee. And that employee lying to (Kevin Draper of) The New York Times that they were victims of racism, sexism, or some other form of bigotry.

The employees, even those of minimal talent, understand that fear. They are empowered by the cowardice of their superiors.