Was ESPN Fair in Firing Curt Schilling for His Social Media Post?
Curt Schilling is a six-time professional baseball All-Star. His career record of 216-146 and his incredible 11-2 postseason performance earned him legendary status and helped him land a job at ESPN in 2010. He was fired from the network in April 2016 after sharing a Facebook post.
Schilling is perhaps as well known for his lack of tact as he is for his ability to command a baseball game, and ESPN seemed to tolerate his often politically charged comments during his tenure. According to Alex Reimer, a Forbes reporter. ESPN did not discipline Schilling for “railing against the theory of evolution on Twitter or for saying in March that Hillary Clinton should be ‘buried
under a jail’ if she shared classified information on her private email server.”266 Just before Schilling made the comment about Clinton. ESPN had issued a companywide e-njtail directing employees to abstain from “political editorializing, personal attacks or
‘drive-by* comments regarding the candidates and their campaigns.” Schilling said the e-mail went to his spam folder.267 ESPN had, however, suspended him in 2015 after he tweeted a meme about Muslim extremists and Nazis.
Schilling’s ultimate firing was due to his sharing an anti-transgender image along with some commentary. The image showed an overweight man wearing a wig and women’s clothing with parts of the T-shirt cut out to expose his breasts. It says: “LET HIM IN! to
the restroom with your daughter or else you’re a narrow-minded, judgmental, unloving racist bigot who needs to die.’ Schilling added his own comments about the rights of transgender people that ESPN found offensive.
The New York Daily News reported that “Schilling’s remarks were in support of a North Carolina law that bars people in the state from using a bathroom other than the one for their biological gender.”269 According to The New York Times. ESPN issued a statement saying it is an inclusive company and that Schilling’s “conduct was unacceptable.”270
Schilling claims he isn’t “transphobic or homophobic and ‘wouldn’t care’ if his son wanted to be a woman.”271 He also commented, on a personal blog, “Let’s make one thing clear right upfront. If you get offended by ANYTHING in this post, that’s your fault, all
yours.”272 Schilling, in turn, has been very critical of ESPN since his dismissal.
SOLVING THE CHALLENGE
Do you think it was fair for ESPN to fire Curt Schilling for expressing his views on social media?
1. No. ESPN was displaying political correctness rather than supporting its employee’s right to express his views about transgender bathroom rights. He should be reinstated.
2. Yes. ESPN told its employees not to make political statements and Schilling clearly ignored this recommendation. People in the broadcasting industry need to be very careful when communicating.
3. Invent other options.