ESPN is heading in a direction that seems “Highly Questionable.”
Dan Le Batard, the host of a popular ESPN show by that name, made a joint announcement with the sports network that he will be leaving his radio and TV shows. It seems to be a mutual agreement, in that they mutually agree they can’t stand each other any longer.
“The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz” will end on Jan. 4, but “Highly Questionable” will continue with a new host.
It had been trending this way once Le Batard told the New York Post that ESPN “blindsided” him by laying off one of his producers, Chris Cote, among 300 layoffs last month, and then his radio show was cut by an hour with the simulcast being moved from ESPNews to subscriber-based ESPN+. “Highly Questionable” also was moved to a less desirable time slot earlier in the day.
“Gracias to ESPN for unleashing Papi and Stugotz upon an unsuspecting America, and for lending its substantive credibility to our careening clown car,” Le Batard said in a statement. “Can’t believe Stugotz finally achieved his dream of becoming a high-priced free agent.”
When Cote was let go, Le Batard paid his salary with a raise to keep him in a vacant personal assistant role.
“It’s the greatest disrespect of my professional career that I got no notice, no collaboration,” Le Batard told the New York Times.
“We, as a group, are just something that somebody can lop off a head, it is just a number on a page, it is not anything human. Corporations don’t tend to be human, and if somebody had talked to me, I would’ve pleaded on the idea of humanity.”
Le Batard reportedly made $3.5 million, so, between a likely contract buyout and whatever SiriusXM or Spotify deal awaits him, there is no doubt as to why he called this “a very exciting time for us.”
Add comment