Sports fans were shocked when ESPN fired long-time sports analyst Ryan Clark right in the middle of his show on Monday.
Clark had just performed his usual duty on NFL Live when he was told at the end of a segment that the network had decided to lay him off. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t return to the show that day, according to The Athletic.
Network insiders told The Athletic that they told Clark of his fate during the show because the media was reporting that he was on the chopping block and they did not want Clark finding out he was fired before they were able to inform him of the decision.
The Athletic added that Clark’s is not the only job being phased out. Disney-owned ESPN and the NFL Network are both instituting a big round of layoffs.
But many felt that ESPN was cold for firing Clark, who was making more than $2 million a year, right in the middle of a broadcast.
The X account for MLF Football called ESPN’s decision “diabolical.” And a fan responded, “This is so wrong,” to that claim.
Others were just as shocked, not at Clark’s firing but over when it happened.
Former ESPN commentator and retired NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho also slammed the network and said it was “cowardly” to dump Clark mid-show, the New York Post reported.
How and when he was fired is one thing, but Clark has been a controversial figure for the entire decade he worked at ESPN.
Clark has been accused of being a “race-baiter” for years. In January, for instance, sports man Craig Carton suggested that ESPN replace “insufferable race-baiter” Clark with then newly retired Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin.
As far back as 2022, it was revealed that he refused to work with Sage Steele at ESPN because she had come out as having center-right ideas on politics and had questioned ESPN’s coronavirus policies.
He had also been forced to make a list of on-air apologies for nonsense he had spewed on the air and off.
In one case, in October of last year, he defended LSU receiver Kyren Lacy over claims that his reckless driving caused an n accident that took someone’s life. Clark called the accusations against Lacy racist, but later apologized when video that showed Lacy’s guilt was released.
In September of that same year, Clark had to apologize to his ESPN colleague Peter Schrager after Clark said his opinions on football matter more because he is a former player and Schrager isn’t.
Before that, in May, Clark had to apologize to former ESPN colleague Robert Griffin III for bringing his wife, who is white, into a commentary about interracial relationships.
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