Same, Curt. Same. Like, just a couple months ago, some guy compared Muslims to Nazis. And then just a week or so ago, some guy posted a disgusting picture on his Facebook wall purporting to show a transgender person who wanted to use a bathroom, making the point that people wanted YOU dead if you didn't want this weirdo in your daughter's bathroom.(It was Curt.)(These are also not opinions, they are factually dubious memes.)Curt kept going, and you know he's in a bad spot because he's comparing himself to Stephen A. Smith."It was apparent to me early on that if you wanted to go off topic as a sports person you had to go off topic left, or you were going to get in trouble…some of the most racist things I've ever heard have come out of people that are on the air at ESPN. They're some of the biggest racists in sports commentating."
Off all the terrible things Stephen A. Smith has said and done on that program, this is like, the most reasonable thing he's ever said. Curt is referring to early last NFL season when we were still debating whether RGIII should be the starter and Stephen A. made the point—a point that was made in print and on radio at the time as well, which he referenced—to question whether Kirk Cousins was getting the benefit of the doubt because he is white, and RGIII is black. Which is, like, a legitimate point to make in all walks of life, including sports. But this is the classic old racist white guy gambit: I'm not racist, you are reverse racist against me."You listen to Stephen A. Smith, and Stephen A. Smith was the guy who said that Robert Griffin didn't play quarterback for the Redskins because he's black. No, Robert Griffin didn't play quarterback for the Redskins because he [stunk]."
I'm not mad, I actually don't care at all. I'm just on this radio show talking about another radio segment from seven months ago. I actually think it's funny. Kornheiser did make a comparison between ISIS and the Tea Party. During the course of a wide-ranging discussion on politics—which included the difficulty Paul Ryan faced in working with the Tea Party because they have essentially refused to work with anyone because of an ideological objection to, essentially, government—Kornheiser asked his political guest whether the Tea Party was like ISIS, trying to establish a caliphate in Washington. That is, is the Tea Party trying to infiltrate D.C. politics and obstruct governance? His guest says "yes, yes, that's a very good analogy, without the violence of course."". . . Tony Kornheiser compared the Tea Party to ISIS. I don't know any planet where those are sports topics. But I don't care. It's OK. I think those conversations need to happen. But as soon as you go to the flip side, the right side, there are repercussions for not talking about sports."
This is where we get to the heart of the issue, and the hearts of many similarly minded folks: the persecution. Curt thinks he was singled out because he was conservative. There are currently entire presidential campaigns crafted around this very sentiment, campaigns that will almost assuredly lose because it's simply not true that conservatives are under attack in America. Curt was not singled out because he was conservative. He was singled out because he was posting dangerously false information from sources unknownl and it began to reflect poorly on ESPN. The company did a cost benefit analysis and determined that the benefit of keeping whatever Curt offered them was not as great as the grief his continued insubordination cost. That his insubordination skewed conservative was only coincidence."Why would the voicing of an opinion be risking anything?" he said during the taping. "I get it in the Middle East, where that can get you beheaded . . . The memo that went out to everybody went out to all of us the same, which is: If you are a sport person stick to sports, don't get involved in the political arena. "In the end for me it felt like that rule applied to me and me alone because I was conservative . . . Bigots are calling me a bigot. A bigot is someone who refuses to accept a different opinion. I will accept anyone's opinion."