ESPN, accused by conservative critics of pushing a progressive agenda on its audience of sports fans, now is defending itself against accusations from within that it has fostered a toxic workplace for women.
The Boston Globe, relying on interviews with about two dozen current and former employees, described in a report Thursday a “locker-room culture” at the Disney-owned, Connecticut-based sports media giant in which men hit on female colleagues, give them unsolicited shoulder rubs and openly rank them by appearance.
This comes amid heightened awareness of sexual misconduct and abuse of power across American culture and commerce, amplified by daily allegations made public and the #metoo social media movement. Sports media hardly have been immune.
Just this week, five NFL analysts — including NFL Network’s Marshall Faulk and ESPN’s Donovan McNabb — were suspended along with the president of Bill Simmons Media Group, publisher of the Ringer website, while their employers investigate allegations of sexual misconduct contained in a lawsuit former NFL Network employee Jami Cantor filed.
Among those to lose jobs this year amid allegations of sexual misconduct and other inappropriate behavior toward women were Fox Sports executive Jamie Horowitz, Fox baseball analyst Pete Rose and Blue Jays color commentator Gregg Zaun.
ESPN is pushing back against a complaint of sexual harassment and retaliation that Adrienne Lawrence filed this summer with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities. Lawrence alleged ESPN reduced her on-camera shifts and denied her a permanent position after she complained about a male colleague.
That’s on top of wounds self-inflicted by ESPN’s decision to partner this year with Barstool Sports, a testosterone-soaked media outfit with a history of casually callous regard for women. After strong objections from ESPN staffers, ESPN ended the relationship.
“We work hard to maintain a respectful and inclusive culture at ESPN,” spokeswoman Katina Arnold said in a statement. “It is always a work in progress, but we’re proud of the significant progress we’ve made in developing and placing women in key roles at the company in the boardroom, in leadership positions throughout ESPN and on air.”
ESPN has won plaudits over the years for the diversity of its staff, coverage of women’s sports and inclusive ventures such as espnW, its women-centric brand.
Jessica Mendoza is ESPN’s lead Major League Baseball analyst. Sam Ponder similarly has broken ground for women as host of the “NFL Countdown” studio show. ESPN made Beth Mowins the second woman to call play-by-play on a network NFL telecast, promoted Doris Burke to NBA color commentator and installed Alison Overholt as editor of ESPN the Magazine.
The company has sought for years to overcome the boys-will-be-boys club imagery and sex scandals detailed in lawsuits and books on the network’s history.
Among the incidents in Michael Freeman’s 2001 book “ESPN: The Uncensored History” was a 1992 accusation that Mike Tirico, now with NBC, stalked a female production assistant as well as a complaint he sent another female colleague a message saying he wanted to have sex with her. ESPN disciplined Tirico at the time.
When “Those Guys Have All the Fun” by James A. Miller and Tom Shales was published in 2011 with accounts of more incidents, ESPN executive John Skipper told reporters: “I can tell you categorically, we do not have a frat-boy culture. We do not condone that kind of activity. In fact, we have taken lots and lots of steps to create policies. We are fairly stringent when people do things. We suspend people. We fire people. It is clear to everybody who works for us we are not going to tolerate it.”
Chicago’s Sarah Spain, an ESPN Radio host and espnW columnist, told the Globe she has not personally experienced sexual harassment from ESPN colleagues and found no resistance when she complained to bosses about a male anchor making fun of female athletes.
But women told the Globe that, fearful of potentially losing hard-won posts, they hide pregnancies and cut short maternity leaves.
One employee, Sara Walsh, reportedly was so concerned about her job status that she didn’t call in sick for an anchor shift even as she began to bleed from a miscarriage. Walsh later conceived again, gave birth and went on maternity leave, but shortly before she was to return to work, she learned she was among the 100 or so ESPN journalists and personalities laid off in April.
ESPN said the many jobs it eliminated this year were the result of its “revised content strategy” and not based on gender, pregnancy or any other protected characteristic.
In her complaint, Lawrence accused longtime “SportsCenter” anchor John Buccigross of sending her an unsolicited shirtless photograph of himself and calling her “dollface,” “dreamgirl,” and “longlegs” last year. Lawrence, who said she wanted to remain cordial as she considered Buccigross a mentor, said she once sent him a note that said: “You need to wear clothes, sir.”
Responding to the Globe’s story, ESPN on Friday posted some of the messages between Lawrence and Buccigross online, looking to show their relationship was friendly and the banter playful.
No shirtless photo was included, but Miko Grimes, who’s married to Buccaneers cornerback Brent Grimes, tweeted some of the omitted parts of Buccigross’ exchange with Lawrence, including a picture of Buccigross, sans shirt.
“We conducted a thorough investigation and found these claims to be entirely without merit,” ESPN’s Arnold said. “Lawrence was hired into a two-year talent-development program and was told that her contract would not be renewed at the conclusion of the training program.
“At that same time, ESPN also told 100 other talent with substantially more experience that their contracts would not be renewed. The company will vigorously defend its position and we are confident we will prevail in court.”
Lawrence tweeted in response that ESPN’s “decisions to (i) single me out, (ii) ignore my key allegations, which ESPN knows are far broader than text messages and photos, only further evidences the culture of this network and the lengths it will go and the unethical means it will employ to silence women.”
philrosenthal@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @phil_rosenthal
