*The host of ESPN’s “Highly Questionable” is under fire for comments about Magic Johnson that some have labeled racist.
Speaking on Magic being named team president for the Los Angeles Lakers, Dan Le Batard criticized the five-time NBA champion’s ability to run the team, saying he only got the top job because “he’s famous and charming.”
Le Batard’s comments triggered an instant flood of angry responses on social media, which Le Batard attributed to America’s bigger race issue on ESPN Radio’s “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz” on Friday, the New York Post reported.
“Now, I am in the middle of a storm where there are a lot of people laughing that I am in the middle of a racism controversy,” he said. “The social justice warriors are eating their own. I found it interesting what it became. It’s instructive to what happens in America now.”
“Once that fuse got lit, it became an explosion all over ESPN,” he continued. “I found it fascinating to watch, as all the black voices on ESPN lined up, but only the black voices, as far as I can tell.”
One of those “black voices” was former NFL player and current ESPN analyst who said: “I can’t tolerate this dude! I can’t tolerate him saying these things about Magic Johnson because his facts are completely wrong … I’m going to read between the lines, I’m going to read between the lines on this one,” he said. “To me, he’s saying ‘because he’s a black dude,’ that’s the way I look at it.”
Le Batard also pointed out that critics should listen to the “whole show” as he “gave other reasons for it and it was a balanced discussion, but that’s the clip that played on ESPN all day.”
One of those other reasons Le Batard had initially given for questioning Magic’s qualifications was his Twitter comments over the years, which have become famous for praising NBA players that have gone on to be busts.
“His Twitter account should disqualify him from the job,” said Le Batard. “We should have just done that. Can we do that? In fact, his Twitter account should host a late-night show. It would last longer than the 11 days his show did — ‘The Magic Hour.’”
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