ESPN
Jay Mariotti, a former Around the Horn panelist who stopped appearing on the show after he pled no contest to a misdemeanor battery charge connected to an alleged domestic violence incident involving his then-girlfriend, says that the show has been canceled because it became too woke. Mariotti, 65, last appeared on the show in 2010.
Around the Horn, one of ESPN’s longest-running shows, will officially conclude its run on the network in May after first premiering in 2002. For two decades, Around the Horn was paired with Pardon the Interruption
According to Mariotti, the show became “too woke” and that’s why it became less popular and ultimately got canceled. He also believes that the roster of journalists became too large after the early days of Around the Horn centered on him, Woody Paige, Kevin Blackistone, Tim Cowlishaw, J.A. Adande, Jackie MacMullan, and Bob Ryan.
“John Skipper ran ESPN at the time. I think what John Skipper wanted from some of the shows was he started to install people on the shows who became anti-Trump — can I put it that way? Our show was about sports. Honestly, we did delve into politics. But you were never going to get me on ripping the president or praising the president. We’re not going that far. I started to watch the show and I would see people down and out anti-Trump,” Mariotti told Front Office Sports.
“I think they lost some audience. That’s rather obvious. Nobody’s turning on ESPN to watch this,” Mariotti continued. “They want to see what’s going on in the NBA and the NFL and so on. If there are political issues, fine. But please don’t turn it into this. I think they lost audience.”
The final episode of Around the Horn is scheduled to air on Friday, May 23. For decades now, Around the Horn has been paired with Pardon the Interruption (which premiered in 2001) as part of ESPN’s “Happy Hour” block of programming from 5 p.m. EST to 6 p.m. EST.