Curt Schilling was once a respected MLB pitcher and ESPN analyst, but these days he’s best known for posting offensive memes on the internet.
On Tuesday, six months after he was briefly suspended from his ESPN Sunday Night Baseball commentating duties for posting a meme that compared Muslims to Nazis, and six weeks after stating in a radio interview that Hillary Clinton “should be buried under a jail somewhere,” Schilling came under fire again, this time for a bigoted anti-trans meme.
Up until this point, all ESPN has said about this issue is: “We are taking this matter very seriously and are in the process of reviewing it.”
But really, what is there to review? Schilling’s comments were not abstract. In a since-deleted Facebook post, Schilling weighed in on the raging debate over which bathrooms transgender people should be able to use.
This is ESPN's Curt Schilling's disgusting view of transgender people #HB2 https://t.co/7DKRXDL4GL pic.twitter.com/hLNhtRf9xe
— Outsports (@outsports) April 19, 2016
If the meme he shared didn’t make his position clear, he spelled it out vividly in a comment. “A man is a man no matter what they call themselves,” he wrote. “I don’t care what they are, who they sleep with, men’s room was designed for the penis, women’s not so much. Now you need laws telling us differently? Pathetic.”
When Schilling began to receive criticism for his comments, he doubled down in a blog post that began ominously. “This is likely the easiest way to address all of you out there who are just dying to be offended so you can create some sort of faux cause to rally behind.
“Let’s make one thing clear right up front. If you get offended by ANYTHING in this post, that’s your fault, all yours.”
ESPN has never been shy about suspending its talent before in the wake of controversial or offensive comments. In 2014, the network suspended Bill Simmons for three weeks for saying that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is a liar. Deadspin compiled a list of other suspensions for talent on the network, including a one-week suspension for a college football announcer who made a gay joke, and a 30-day suspension for a NBA announcer using the phrase “chink in the armor” when talking about Asian basketball player Jeremy Lin.
But this is far from Schilling’s first strike. He has clearly not learned his lesson, despite the many times that ESPN has “addressed” his controversial social media posts in the past.
For example, after his suspension last fall for his tweet comparing Muslim extremists to Nazis, Schilling tweeted this, calling it a “bad decision:”
I understand and accept my suspension. 100% my fault. Bad choices have bad consequences and this was a bad decision in every way on my part.
— Curt Schilling (@gehrig38) August 25, 2015
But in his blog post on Tuesday, Schilling circled back and defended that post and scolded anyone for being offended by it:
Every one of you gutless cowards, when ‘calling me out’ or calling me a racist, every one of you left out the only word in that entire meme that mattered. You had to, otherwise you’d have had to go elsewhere to find offense and create something out of nothing. Let me help you now. All of you fraudulent media folks, you lazy ass “don’t actually want to work for a story” clowns. The word you left out? the ONLY word that mattered? EXTREMIST.
Schilling really and truly believes that he is a victim in all of this. He has shown no desire or effort to learn, evolve, or make amends for his comments.
In this case, that’s particularly troublesome because his anti-trans comment flies directly in the face of the LGBT friendly-message that ESPN and MLB have been working hard to cultivate over the past few years.
The network has repeatedly reported on the importance of LGBT inclusion, sharing the stories of many LGBT athletes who are trying to find their way in the sports landscape. ESPN famously gave Caitlyn Jenner, a trans woman, the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at last year’s ESPYs, and it employs many LGBT writers, on-air talent, and behind-the-scenes staff, including Christina Kahrl, a MLB writer who also happens to be a trans woman.
The company has an ESPN Ally program, which aims to “help foster a workplace at ESPN where lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees are accepted, included, and supported.”
Major League Baseball, meanwhile, has been making strides in LGBT inclusion as well. Many MLB teams across the country hold LGBT rights, the league has an inclusion ambassador, Billy Bean, a former MLB player who came out of the closet four years after he retired.
The sports world as a whole has a long way to go before it truly becomes a friendly and open space for LGBT fans and athletes — as one NHL player proved last night when he shouted homophobic slurs at a referee when he was angry — but there is a movement in the right direction.
However, statements like Schilling’s strongly reverses that trend, and if ESPN continues to enable those comments, it makes the rest of their actions look empty.
Update:
ESPN announced on Wednesday night that the company had fired Curt Schilling, and released the following statement:
“ESPN is an inclusive company. Curt Schilling has been advised that his conduct was unacceptable and his employment with ESPN has been terminated.”