ESPN Orders Staff to Avoid ‘Pure Politics’ After Le Batard Rant Against President Trump

ESPN reiterated its recent policy for hosts to avoid politics if at all possible, after ESPN radio host Dan Le Batard went on a deeply left-wing political rant criticizing President Donald Trump and his voters.

Le Batard criticized Donald Trump and his supporters as “un-American” in a long-winded rant on his Thursday radio show.

But his rant was in contravention to the sports network’s recent decision to scale back on overtly political content and to “get back to sports.”

Indeed, even as Le Batard’s attack on white voters became the left’s favorite story on Friday, the network felt compelled to reiterate its policy to avoid politics, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The network shot out a memo on Friday telling employees reminding them to avoid “pure politics” on the air.

During his Thursday radio show, Le Batard insisted that his network is “cowardly” for not going after the president and his supporters enough.

The sports commentator went on to say that the president and his voters are looking to exclude “brown people,” and that despite enjoying white privilege, they “go after brown people and black people and minorities.”

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.