ESPN laid off Robert Griffin III and Sam Ponder on Thursday, citing budgetary concerns heading into the end of the fiscal year, according to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic . While Griffin and Ponder occupied relatively small roles and relatively sizable salaries at ESPN, making them logical targets for layoffs, there may be more to the story.
In recent weeks, Awful Announcing covered social media posts by both football personalities that drew attention from fans online and could have caught the eye of ESPN suits as well .
ESPN sources tell Awful Announcing the moves are unrelated to social media activity from either Ponder or Griffin, and are simply related to the needs of the business.
Still, each host did run into social media trouble over the past couple weeks.
Earlier this week, Griffin appeared to take a shot at longtime ESPN college football voice Paul Finebaum over “ cheap shots ” at the Florida State Seminoles.
After Finebaum went on First Take and claimed Florida State, which will start the season ranked 10th by the AP, will end the season unranked, Griffin clapped back on X.
“Anyone who is throwing shade at or trying to take cheap shots at Florida State for being left out of the College Football Playoff last year must be out of touch with reality,” Griffin wrote.
Plenty of ESPN talent, from Bill Simmons to Pat McAfee, have been punished for criticizing colleagues.
Ponder touched on an even more hot-button issue in a post on X earlier this month.
During the initial controversy around Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif and her participation in women’s boxing kicked up by author J.K. Rowling, Elon Musk, and ESPN host Pat McAfee , the Sunday NFL Countdown host weighed in as well, writing, “ENOUGH is what all of us should be saying!!”
While Ponder’s fellow NFL talent Dan Orlovsky deleted his post saying, “Protect our daughters,” Ponder’s is still up.
Subsequent reporting called the initial chromosome and testosterone tests by the International Boxing Association into question, and Khelif has filed a lawsuit against Rowling and Musk, among others, over the hate speech she became a victim of after their commentary online.
While ESPN has eased up on its policing of talent’s social media activity in recent years, they surely have a line somewhere.
Given that talent like Sage Steele has sued ESPN and Disney in the past for wrongful termination based on comments made outside the network’s walls, it’s always worth monitoring what went into the worldwide leader’s personnel decisions.
While both talents are expected to be paid out for the remainder of their contracts, Griffin and Ponder ran afoul of usual ESPN standards so recently that these posts will likely be front of mind as they consider their next steps.
The post Robert Griffin III, Sam Ponder recent social media activity questioned after ESPN firings appeared first on Awful Announcing .
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