Former ESPN employee Ryan Clark claims the company published a profile featuring Sophie Cunningham’s comments about trans athletes after his firing to impress OutKick.
ESPN fired Clark more than three months ago, yet he still discusses his ousting on a regular basis. The New York Post summarized his appearance on the “All The Smoke” podcast Thursday.
“Sophie Cunningham says something and they [OutKick] say, ‘A great brand switch for ESPN. Ryan Clark was fired this week and now Sophie Cunningham leads the news,’” Clark said before alleging that ESPN leaked news of his firing to OutKick.
“That’s what they [ESPN] wanted. That’s why you leaked it to [OutKick]. And so I think everything points to it, but I should have, my antenna should have been up more and even with that, there was nothing I could change.”
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Clark first accused ESPN of coordinating with OutKick to “humiliate” him three days after his firing. However, as we have documented on multiple occasions, that is not accurate.
In short, OutKick learned that Clark was among several employees ESPN planned to lay off as part of its budget cuts. We informed the network that we were going to report the news because Clark was the most notable name on the list. (We also reported Cam Newton’s ousting when we learned of that news the next day).
Amid an email exchange with ESPN PR about our reporting, an executive informed Clark during a commercial break on “NFL Live” that he would be laid off. He did not return for the next segment.
Our understanding is that the company fired Clark during the show because it feared we would not hold the information until after the broadcast. ESPN management did not want Clark to learn about the decision online.
ESPN did not “humiliate” Clark on purpose. It tried to protect him. The decision, however, backfired — badly. Had ESPN told us that Clark was unaware and asked us to hold the news until he knew, we would have.
Further, ESPN did not leak the news to us. My colleague Dan Zaksheske and I had four independent sources. In fact, ESPN tried to prevent us from breaking it. The fact that ESPN quickly leaked news of Clark’s firing to The Athletic after learning that we had plans to report it suggests that.
That said, Ryan Clark prefers the following narrative: “Those bastards fired me for being too black and leaked the news to Bobby Burack and OutKick.”
He believes that version of the story will drum up more sympathy for him. Maybe it will.
To be clear, Clark actually claimed that he “couldn’t be too black” during his time at the network. We are only being partly sarcastic.
Now, let’s address his reference to the Sophie Cunningham profile. The profile generated headlines and protests outside WNBA games because Cunningham voiced support for keeping trans athletes out of girls’ sports.
“I got a lot of negative feedback about me hating trans. And I’m like, ‘I never once said that.’ I think that I am here to extend love. But I also think with that love is truth, being honest. And I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men,” Cunningham told ESPN.
Damn her for extending love while wanting to keep little girls safe!
Clark claimed ESPN profiled Cunningham to show OutKick that it had completed a “brand switch.”
Not quite.
For one, the profile was conducted in February. The story was held until July to line up with the WNBA season.
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Finally, it is time for Ryan Clark to move on.
ESPN fired him more than three months ago. He has continued to blame everyone but himself for the decision. He has blamed his former bosses, OutKick, Clay Travis, Dan Zaksheske, me and the “culture change.”
In reality, none of us are to blame.
Ryan Clark is to blame. He got himself fired.
ESPN fired him because he was toxic. He made false statements about the role Louisiana police allegedly played in the death of former LSU Tigers wide receiver Kyren Lacy. He shamed Robert Griffin III for marrying a white woman. He race-baited by trade. He undermined and disrespected Peter Schrager on air. He shouted the F-word at Schrager off air afterward.
Clark was a headache for producers and a migraine for his bosses.
Most notably, Clark did not drive viewership and therefore did not drive revenue. That is not a knock on him. Most sports analysts do not. The difference is that Clark was also a negative stain on the brand.
He was more of a problem than he was worth.
That would be like Pat McAfee failing to produce results despite the perpetual drama surrounding him. Talents such as McAfee, Stephen A. Smith, and Charles Barkley get away with more because their bosses believe they are worth the trouble.
By no metric was Clark worth the trouble he caused.
It is that simple.
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That’s why he was fired.
All the claims about racism, OutKick and coordinated leaks are a cope. Clark is too weak to acknowledge the obvious: He was not good enough to be that toxic.
