After one episode, ESPN President John Skipper announced in a statement that the network has canceled its new late night show Barstool Van Talk.
Statement from ESPN President John Skipper about Barstool Van Talk:
It is unclear what exactly led to ESPN's decision to cancel the series, hosted by Dan “Big Cat” Katz and PFT Commenter. But the Barstool Sports website has been accused of being misogynistic and normalizing rape culture.
SOON @notthefakeSVP #BVT
The cancellation comes a week after ESPN Sunday NFL Countdown host Sam Ponder tweeted that the president of Barstool Sports went on a tirade, and told her, "Go fuck yourself."
Welcome to the ESPN family @BarstoolBigCat (& welcome to all ur minions who will respond to this so kindly)
I was wrong in thinking @BarstoolBigCat wrote that article & called me a slut repeatedly. He just continuously laug… https://t.co/v81lLQZKQp
People had been criticizing ESPN's decision to greenlight the Barstool show, especially since it was announced within days of Jemele Hill being suspended for calling Donald Trump a white supremacist on Twitter.
It's pretty fucked up that ESPN disciplined @jemelehill for an "inappropriate" tweet and then announced a show with Barstool days later.
I like Barstool Sports but the fact that ESPN picked them up for a show just shows what a bad direction ESPN is going. A fall from grace
ESPN suspended Jemele Hill but gave a tv show to the fucking Barstool assholes
For comparison, this is some of the language Hill used:
@DonnyParlock @demillz84 @JayG34 Trump is the most ignorant, offensive president of my lifetime. His rise is a dire… https://t.co/LbPbTExFlM
And here's a sampling of some of Barstool Sports' language:
ESPN also came under fire for bringing on Desus and Mero to cover the NBA, considering they've been profanely critical of Trump on their Viceland late night show.
Jemele Hill tells the truth about Trump being a white supremacist, ESPN responds by folding like a lawn chair.
Desus and Mero themselves have criticized ESPN for how they treated Hill, who returns from her two-week suspension tonight.
For comparison, here is a sample of Hill's tweets:
@DonnyParlock @demillz84 @JayG34 Donald Trump is a bigot. Glad you could live with voting for him. I couldn't, beca… https://t.co/VohHRHOzdx
And here's a segment of Desus and Mero's show in which Desus said to Trump: "White supremacy runs in your family. Your bitch-ass father was caught out in Queens at a KKK rally."
View this video on YouTube
For reference, this video's caption on YouTube is: "Apparently being a racist worm is genetic."
The hosts of Barstool Van Talk have posted a statement on Twitter, expressing their disappointment in the network's decision.
A statement on today's news: