Rich Fury/VF20/Getty Images for Vanity Fair
Welcome to Cancel City, pious, good-natured ladies and gentlemen. Today we will attempt to Cancel the reprehensible, nightmarish…
*spins wheel*
…sports podcaster guy?
That’s right, folks. Bill Simmons is taking grenades in the trenches after a New York Times piece detailing The Ringer’s hiring practices and lack of diversity in its top brass.
Above all, the four former employees said, it was difficult for black staff members to win more responsibility and visibility at the company — especially since late 2017, when company leaders appeared to make podcasting a priority. At that point, they said, top editors started claiming shows for themselves.
The outlet’s popular Rewatchables podcast, in which staff members revisit old movies, led by Mr. Simmons, allowed for a variety of guests when it started. By the spring of 2018, the ensemble approach faded as the show came to rely more on Mr. Simmons along with Sean Fennessey and Chris Ryan, both founding editors who are white.
“The Rewatchables was pitched as, ‘Let’s get the rest of you participating in podcasts,’” Mr. Collins said. “It very quickly became Sean, Bill and Chris.”
Mr. Simmons said by email that the company needed to spotlight its best podcasters. “It’s a business,” he said. “This isn’t Open Mic Night.”
Score one for the Cancelers: Simmons ‘Open Mic Night’ claim does not hold up. Evidence: his teenage daughter and friend from college were given their own shows.
Not open mic night, you say @BillSimmons pic.twitter.com/sSG8q3DbAD
— ✌️The Peoples Champ, UCF✌️ (@VinDiGioiaUCF) June 23, 2020
Former Ringer writers Lindsay Zoladz and Dave Schilling detailed their negative cultural experiences working under Simmons. Schilling, who is black, called the Grantland work environment “toxic” before claiming he felt like he was “patronized by half the staff.”
https://twitter.com/dave_schilling/status/1275196561681608706?s=20
Lindsay Zoladz, who left The Ringer in the fall of 2019, added:
bumping this tweet for absolutely no reason at all why do you ask!!! https://t.co/tRLD8KYxUj
— Lindsay Zoladz (@lindsayzoladz) June 22, 2020
this is a hell of a thing to say about YOUR OWN STAFF, especially in an emerging medium where most people haven't yet had the opportunities to develop on-air experience pic.twitter.com/S9xYv6W4EP
— Lindsay Zoladz (@lindsayzoladz) June 22, 2020
The backlash stopped there.
Just kidding.
Ringer staff: “Hire some Black people!”
Bill Simmons: pic.twitter.com/FGOWH6H5G9
— Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) June 23, 2020
"This is exactly like the JFK assassination" -Bill Simmons reading that NYT profile about himself
— sreekar (@sreekyshooter) June 23, 2020
https://twitter.com/kylewaldrup/status/1275227895192002565?s=20
Guys. You can't be surprised. Bill Simmons is still a white dude from Boston. They haven't liked a black person since Robert Parish.
— Rae Sanni (@raesanni) June 22, 2020
https://twitter.com/maxgamarra_/status/1275257394654785536?s=20
https://twitter.com/maxgamarra_/status/1275257408730943500?s=20
https://twitter.com/maxgamarra_/status/1275257421540331520?s=20
Simmons has yet to comment on the backlash, or any of the other bad things he’s ever done.