ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski was reportedly suspended without pay for sending an explicit email response to Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), who had written a letter to NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Friday requesting answers about their sanctioning of political messages on players’ jerseys.
Hawley wrote: “Conspicuously missing from the list of approved phrases are any in support of the victims of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), including the people of Hong Kong, whose remaining freedoms are being extinguished by the CCP’s newly-enacted national security law.”
“Given the NBA’s troubled history of excusing and apologizing for the brutal repression of the Chinese Communist regime, these omissions are striking,” wrote the senator, later adding, “The league’s new policy suggests a newfound commitment to enhanced employee expression. But that free expression appears to stop at the edge of your corporate sponsors’ sensibilities. And for woke capital today, profits from the Chinese market are more popular than patriotism.”
After Hawley sent out the initial email announcing the letter, the senator posted the curt — and uncensored — response he received Friday from Wojnarowski’s email account. The email simply read: “F*** you.”
Hawley tweeted a photo of the reporter’s response and included a statement of his own: “Don’t criticize #China or express support for law enforcement to [ESPN]. It makes them real mad.”
Don’t criticize #China or express support for law enforcement to @espn. It makes them real mad @Outkick pic.twitter.com/WJDxrotUBD
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 10, 2020
“Multiple people familiar with the matter” told The Washington Post on Sunday that Wojnarowski, who was expected to travel to Florida for the NBA season restart, has been suspended for between one and two weeks.
Wojnarowski will also be prohibited from making his scheduled trip to Florida, and will instead travel to cover the remainder of the season at a later date, reports the Post.
After ESPN condemned the reporter’s email as “completely unacceptable” and Wojnarowski issued a public apology — calling his own actions “disrespectful” and “unacceptable” — Outkick reported that Wojnarowski had been suspended for an unspecified amount of time.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 10, 2020
But Hawley, who said Friday he wasn’t interested in an apology because Wojnarowski was just “saying what he really thinks,” responded Sunday with a much different idea.
“[ESPN], don’t suspend a reporter, ask tough questions of @NBA about their pro-#China, anti-America bias. Start reporting for goodness sake,” said the GOP senator.
.@espn don’t suspend a reporter, ask tough questions of @NBA about their pro-#China, anti-America bias. Start reporting for goodness sake https://t.co/No0rG4mS1L
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 12, 2020
As The Daily Wire previously reported, the NBA’s pre-approved list of jersey messages include “Power To The People,” “Anti-Racist,” “Black Lives Matter,” “I Am A Man,” and “Education Reform,” among others. The Blaze reports that the phrases “will be displayed for the first four nights of resumed play,” when the season eventually kicks off again.
