WHY DOES ESPN GIVE SHANNON SHARPE A PASS AS PHILLY TAKES DOWN ESKIN?

Sharpe spoke in sexual terms about rapper Megan Thee Stallion on a podcast — “deep, hard and continuously …” — yet his bosses don’t care, while talk-show host Howard Eskin views the end of his career

     With a nod toward selectivity — protecting those governed by Stephen A. Smith, dammit — ESPN won’t punish Shannon Sharpe. The network should at least suspend the commentator. In fact, he’d be fired in some media workplaces for what he said on his podcast about rapper Megan Thee Stallion.

     “I’d have her stretched out like a quarter to three,’’ said Sharpe, referring to his sexual preference. He added on a program with another former NFL player, Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson: “I do it three ways, Ocho: deep, hard and continuously …”

     If you’re looking for one of his superiors to defend women in this great country of ours, look elsewhere.

     Last month, Sharpe signed a multiyear deal with the network. That will be enough for his ungracious bosses, who tend to defend those nodding obediently to Smith on his daily show. Besides, Sir Robert Iger is busy. He and his wife, Willow Bay, are spending $50 million-plus for a controlling stake in a women’s pro soccer team. For now, Iger still runs Disney Company, but soon enough, they will operate Angel City FC in Los Angeles and value the club at $300 million. That’s a nice gig in his future years.

     But for now, he should ban Sharpe for three months. I don’t care that he apologized to Stallion on “Club Shay Shay” earlier this week, regrets that should have been voiced when he first made comments in November 2023. Telling her he was sorry “for any unwanted attention, harm, shame, embarrassment that I’ve caused you or your family,” Sharpe said, “Meg, before we go any further I want to apologize to you personally. I always wanted to sit down and have a conversation with you. I didn’t know if that was going to be possible. But I was always hoping that I got an opportunity to bump into you, because I made a comment … I told a joke, I said it in jest, but I believe the joke would have been just as funny had I left you out of it. So I want to say as a man as I sit here before you, that I apologize.”

     Said Stallion, 29: “I appreciate that, thank you.”

     This is the indirect problem when ESPN allows individual podcasts, for Sharpe and Smith, to inflict verbal damage on the network. What he says on “Club Shay Shay” still matters when someone wants to see the Hall of Fame tight end break down the AFC West. “Deep, hard and continuously …” — who cares, Shannon? I don’t care. But Iger and ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro should.

     Their ignorance comes in a week when Howard Eskin was waylaid by his network and Philadelphia sports teams. The obnoxious talk host, 73, was sitting behind home plate at Citizens Bank Park when he tried to kiss a female employee for a food service provider. That’s a weird place for an “unwelcome kiss,” alongside thousands of fans at a game, and Eskin was investigated by Aramark and Audacy, his employer at WIP-FM. He’ll be banned from the ballpark for the remainder of the Phillies’ season. The 76ers also banned him from their facility and games while the Eagles, who use Eskin as a sideline reporter, monitor the situation.

     “We learned of an unwelcome kiss by Howard Eskin towards an Aramark employee at Citizens Bank Park," Audacy said in a statement. “We take these matters very seriously. We immediately investigated and took action to address the matter.”  

     Said Aramark: “The safety of our employees is paramount, and when we learned that an Aramark employee had been subjected to an unwanted advance by an Audacy employee, we immediately began an investigation, which corroborated the allegations. We then worked with Audacy and the Phillies to ensure appropriate steps were taken to protect our employee and all Aramark employees at Citizens Bank Park.”

     The companies took immediate action. He won’t be on the air this weekend, when he hosts a Saturday morning show, but in due time, you’ll see the end of Howard Eskin in a town he once ruled as a radio and television celebrity.

     Did ESPN take the same investigative action with Sharpe?

     No.

     My guess is, Audacy wants rid of Eskin. My guess is, ESPN signed Sharpe and wants him to be happy while trying to sign Smith to a $90 million contract. So Iger runs his soccer team, filled with women, many of whom might be Megan Thee Stallion fans.

     It’s called media slop, on the highest level, where they work in low places.

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     Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.