Keith Olbermann Refuses To Be Silenced So He Is Leaving ESPN

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ESPN asked Keith Olbermann to stop doing commentaries, and now the opinionated host will be leaving the sports network when his contract expires at the end of July.

James Andrew Miller tweeted:

The “business decision” that ESPN is referring to is the fact that Olbermann angered the NFL by being an outspoken critic of the way the league handled the Ray Rice domestic violence story. The NFL wasn’t happy with having their hypocrisy called out on a regular basis, and since journalism died at ESPN as soon as Disney took over, the network was soon requesting that Keith Olbermann stop doing commentaries.

Think about that for a second. A group of people got together and decided that it would be a great idea to tell a broadcaster who is famous for his commentaries to stop voicing his opinion so loudly on his own program.

ESPN has the most expensive deal with the NFL of any network, and this is not the first time that the network has placed corporate profits ahead of integrity. In 2013, the NFL pressured ESPN into backing out of a joint documentary with PBS’s Frontline on concussions in the NFL.

Traditional corporate owned media is not the right fit for Olbermann. Keith Olbermann deserves a platform where he is free to speak his mind.

Olbermann is one of the great broadcasting talents in America today, and by trying to silence him, ESPN has lost one of its final shreds of credibility.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association