An ESPN host faced criticism on Monday after posting a poll that asked his followers if it was “funny that the guy who refused to kneel immediately blew out his knee?”
Dan Le Batard, the ESPN radio host of “The Dan Le Batard Show with Sugotz,” was referring to the torn ACL injury that Magic forward Jonathan Isaac suffered on Sunday night. The injury is serious and he required a wheelchair on the court.
Isaac made headlines as the first player in the league to stand during the national anthem. He said he believes that Black Lives Matter but he also refused to wear a BLM shirt.
Isaac told Bleacher Report, “I think when you look around, racism isn’t the only thing that plagues our society, that plagues our nation, that plagues our world, and I think coming together on that message that we want to get past not only racism but everything that plagues as us as a society, I feel like the answer to that is Gospel.”
But his decision did not sit well with some in the mainstream media, and he quickly became fair game for mockery. Le Batard’s vitriol was directed at a person who questioned the country’s accepted narrative and no doubt his radio career will not be affected. Disney owns ESPN, which is under the same umbrella as ABC. Jimmy Kimmel, the late-night host most famous for the sexist “The Man Show” and wearing blackface, is the face of the network.
Le Batard later apologized for the poll question. He said that he noted while on air that he did not think it was funny.
“Regardless of the context, we missed the mark. We took the tweet down when we realized our mistake in how we posed the question to the audience,” the post said.
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Isaacs appears to be turning to his faith during the brief career setback. He took to Twitter to announce, “Remember our God is not just a God of the hills but a God of the valleys! (2 Corinthians ch 4 vs 9!) MY COMEBACK WILL BE GREATER THAN MY SETBACK!!!! I STILL STAND IN JESUS NAME!!!