ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith isn't thrilled with ESPN's top decision makers at the moment.
It was reported Monday night that longtime NFL analyst Ryan Clark was going to be part of ESPN's mass layoffs. According to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, ESPN informed Clark that he was being let go during Monday afternoon's episode of "NFL Live."
"Sources at ESPN say the reason they told Clark during the show was due to media inquiries into his departure and a fear that the news would leak out before they could inform him. Since after the Super Bowl in February, sources had told The Athletic that Clark’s job could be in jeopardy. Last week, The Athletic learned that Clark was likely to be let go," Marchand wrote. "ESPN’s plan was to do that on Tuesday morning, but after receiving calls on the matter chose to inform him during his show as they did not want him to read it online before being told in person."
Less than 24 hours later, Smith called out ESPN for parting ways with Clark. He referred to his former colleague as one of the best NFL analysts in the business.
"Ryan Clark, someone I consider to be arguably the best NFL analyst in America, is no longer with ESPN," Smith said. "I can't even tell y'all how much that hurts. He's a man, so he'll handle it the way men do. But I'm going to miss him, and I'm not happy about this decision one bit. The bosses know I'm not happy about this decision. I've made that very, very clear."
© Dale Zanine-Imagn Images.
Who else is being let go by ESPN?
ESPN is also parting ways with longtime MLB broadcaster Karl Ravech. He's been with the Worldwide Leader in Sports since 1993, so it's shocking to see him leave so suddenly.
Bobby Burack of OutKick reported that former NFL star Cam Newton has also been laid off by ESPN. The same goes for "SportsCenter" anchor David Lloyd and NFL insider Tom Pelissero.
“Team: Over the past several months, we’ve made significant progress integrating the NFL assets that we acquired into ESPN. Throughout this process, we have taken the time to carefully evaluate our collective teams, resources and organizational structure to best position us for the future,” ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement read, per Awful Announcing. “As a result, we had to make some difficult decisions about job impacts that we will be communicating today. While most of the job impacts are tied to the acquisition, we will also notify colleagues in other parts of the company today that their positions have been impacted. We are committed to treating employees with compassion and respect and to providing support as they navigate this transition. Even in moments like these, the strength of ESPN comes from our people, our teamwork and our shared mission to serve sports fans.”
