It was All Star Weekend for the NBA, and this year it was in Toronto. On Friday night there was a celebrity game pinning Canada against the U.S., which was actually a pretty cool idea. Following the exhibition, a Canada win, Arcade Fire frontman said this to ESPN’s Sage Steel before quickly being cut off:
I just want to say, as an election year in the U.S., the U.S. has a lot they can learn from Canada. Healthcare, taking care of people…
This comes about a month after an employee from ESPN leaked a memo which discouraged its on-air talent from making any political comments during this election year.
I can see why sporting events aren’t the proper place to make political comments, but Jesus Christ, lady. Let the man say his piece.
Over the last decade, ESPN has rebranded itself from wise guys presenting the sports news in a smart way, to vanilla anchors who function more or less like nightly news anchors. There is no fact-checking, no further questioning. If two people debate, then rather than let the audience know what is actually true, they abstain in favor of “letting the audience decide.”
This is particularly sad when you consider Keith Law and Curt Schilling got into a Twitter beef over Creationism, and it was Law — who defended evolution — who drew the week-long suspension.
ESPN doesn’t care about the truth.
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