Former ESPN Reporter Britt McHenry Tweets, Then Deletes Claim that ESPN Demoted Her Because She’s White and Conservative

Former ESPN reporter Britt McHenry claimed that ESPN demoted her because she is white and conservative in a series of since-deleted tweets.

McHenry was cut during one of the cable sports networks first massive cost-cutting campaigns, and while at one point McHenry did note she was laid off because she “made too much,” the reporter also said another reason factored into her firing, according to the Daily Mail.

McHenry made the race charge in an exchange with another Twitter user who taunted her for being demoted from covering the NFL and was then laid off. Speaking about her time at ESPN, McHenry insisted, “No I was demoted because I was white & made too much. First to go. Actually.”

Not long after the exchange, McHenry deleted the tweet, but some had taken a screenshot before she did so.

The former ESPN reporter later tried to walk back her claims about the race factor in her firing telling Deadspin, “I think there were a number of factors into laying me off.

“I wish nothing but the best for the people there,” she added.

Still, the claim met with ridicule by ESPN’s former SportsCenter host Jemele Hill who scoffed at her former colleague’s claim:

McHenry also noted in a May 6 tweet that she may make her case for being fired over her race in a book she is thinking of writing. “Trust me, I wouldn’t make a claim without proof. One day in a book. One day soon.” McHenry also seems to have deleted that tweet, according to Awful Announcing.

This isn’t the first time McHenry has accused ESPN of firing her for reasons other than her talent. The former ESPN reporter was laid off in April 2017, not long afterward claimed that her conservative outlook hurt her with her liberal ESPN bosses. McHenry made that charge in June of last year saying, “I mean I’ve been openly Conservative… look how that ended up…”

Indeed, during the round of layoffs in which her employment was ended, none of ESPN’s well known social justice warriors were targeted for elimination.

Meanwhile, this April, ESPN lost another half million subscribers as sports fans continue to abandon the network. The latest loss adds to the nearly 14 million fans the network has lost since 2010.

As for Jemele Hill, she recently got the bad news that SportsCenter, the show she once hosted, saw a big jump in ratings right after she was removed from it.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.