ESPN has some controversy on its hands. Monday one of the networks Monday Night Baseball analyst and three time World Series winner Curt Schilling finds himself in their hot seat. In recent news there has been debate and protests in many state legislatures and federal legislature on whether the law that a person must use the bathroom of the gender assigned to you on your birth certificate is discriminatory to transgender people. This has intensified arguments surrounding transgender rights. On Monday Schilling shared an anti transgender meme, that can be seen above, on his facebook account. He later deleted the meme and added some commentary of his own on the situation stating "A man who is a man no matter what they call themselves. I don’t care what they are, who they sleep with, men’s room was designed for the penis, women’s not so much. Now you need laws telling us differently? Pathetic." This has come months after ESPN had sent out a memo urging its on air talent to refrain from making political statements. Schilling is no stranger in being in this situation as last summer he was suspended for posting a meme comparing Muslim extremist to Nazis. He also made some comments about presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. In interviews ESPN has stated that they are taking this matter very serious. But how serious are they taking it as no apology from the network has been made, no action against schilling has been made. What do you think ESPN should do with Schilling
Oh goodness. This is upsetting. I think ESPN made the right move by telling its air talent not to post political commentary. The reflex reaction to this might be that ESPN should punish the employee in some way, but the flip side of that is that everyone has their right to their own opinion. It's like the historical quote, "I might not agree with what you say, but I'll go to the grave to defend your right to say it." As a member of the LGBTQ community myself, I am completely repulsed by the statement Schilling made and the image he posted, but he has the right to free speech. It would be different if he posted that or said that on ESPN's account, in which case he would be falsely representing the views of the company and they would have grounds to punish him.
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