Racists watch ESPN too.
That is the message I am getting here from ESPN, no matter how they try to spin it, that is how it looks. White supremacist Richard Spencer wanted to speak at the University of Florida.
They asked Tim Tebow whom many consider the most famous Florida alum to record a quick video denouncing white supremacy and according to Awful Announcing here is what happened next.
Chrystal-Green herself tried to enlist the help of Tebow, the former University of Florida quarterback who won a Heisman Trophy and led the Gators to two national championships.
Tebow was in Gainesville days before Spencer’s speech for “SEC Nation,” the ESPN college football show on which he serves as an analyst. Chrystal-Green reached out to assistant athletic director Jon Rubin with “a favor to ask.”
“I’m sure you have seen the news about a white nationalist coming to speak at UF on Oct. 19,” Chrystal-Green wrote in an Oct. 6 email. “One of the things we are doing is showing a virtual assembly during the speech. We are getting in contact with famous alums asking to record a brief message of unity, togetherness, Gator Nation, etc. Obviously a message from Tim Tebow would be a great addition. Is there an easy method by which to ask him?”
Rubin told Chrystal-Green to reach out to ESPN public relations officials about Tebow’s availability. An ESPN spokeswoman told HuffPost, “The university reached out to us to gauge Tim’s involvement in recording a video with regards to the Richard Spencer event at UF and we declined on his behalf.”
There are some obvious questions that need to be answered.
Why did ESPN decline on Tebow’s behalf? Did Tebow have any say in this? Did Tebow himself not want to do it and let ESPN do his dirty work? Did Tebow want to do it and ESPN told him no?
While you ponder all of that, just remember ESPN and Tim Tebow had a chance to denounce white supremacy and chose not to do it.
