Dear MoveOn member,
Sports analyst Pat McAfee shocked viewers when he used offensive and misogynistic language to describe Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) athlete Caitlin Clark in a rant.1 While McAfee claimed to be coming to Clark's defense, the language he used mirrored the verbal harassment many women athletes are subject to. Using misogynistic language, in any context, to describe women is unacceptable—and ESPN should make it clear that they do not tolerate it.
Sign the petition to call on ESPN to suspend Pat McAfee NOW!
McAfee used the term "white b*tch" to also simultaneously dismiss the rightful critiques about how Clark is treated—by athletic organizations, news broadcasts, and the broader public—as a white woman compared to other players in a majority-Black league. We can, and must, be able to both celebrate Clark's achievements while grappling with the double standards that face Black women athletes due to systemic racism—how they are expected to show up, on and off the court, and how that impacts the trajectory of their careers.2 Sports journalists should be reckoning with that reality and working to increase their racial and gender analysis to reduce bias in reporting—not reinforcing misogyny and dismissing rightful critiques of how Black women are treated in sports in one fell swoop.
Back in 2017 when Jemele Hill was working at ESPN, she was suspended for two weeks for "violating the company's social media policy" after rightfully calling Donald Trump, then-president, a white supremacist.3 It's unacceptable to hold Hill to one standard and McAfee to another. The language McAfee used would be reprehensible in any workplace, and it should be at ESPN, as well.
More than 1.7 million people watch "The Pat McAfee Show."4 Abuse, harassment, and discrimination in sports are a widespread problem for women in sports and are worse for Black women and other women of color.5,6 This pervasive hostility discourages women from fully participating in athletics, and it's unacceptable. Parroting the same misogynistic slurs and reductive and dismissive racist ideas on air reinforces a toxic environment for women athletes and normalizes harmful, offensive language throughout the entire industry.
This isn't the first time McAfee has come under fire. He was criticized earlier this year for his ignorant and offensive remarks on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.7 And shortly after that, conspiracy theorist Aaron Rodgers was invited on the show, where he spread misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines and failed to apologize for stoking lies about Jimmy Kimmel and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.8 Then, just this March, McAfee invited a guest, Boston Connor, who made a racist and deeply insensitive "joke" about basketball player Keisei Tominaga.9
McAfee must be held accountable by ESPN for his remarks, and, instead of giving a platform to racist comedians and conspiracy theorists, he should commit to inviting guests who can challenge racism and misogyny in sports and make the field more inclusive.
–Aliya, Isbah, Amanda, Amy, and the rest of the team
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