Kentucky Sports Talk Host Matt Jones Calls Governor Bevin ‘A Massive Jerk’

Kentucky sports talk host Matt Jones recently called that state’s governor, Matt Bevin, a “massive jerk” on Twitter.

“Matt Bevin has been about as bad a Governor for Education, Health care and Workers Rights as a person can be,” Jones tweeted on August 21. “And he has been a massive jerk in the process.”

Jones, who runs a sports talk network (kentuckysportsradio.com) that’s syndicated on radio stations throughout the Bluegrass State, is supporting Democrat Andy Beshear in the state’s gubernatorial race.

“Beshear isn’t perfect or particularly exciting, but if we re-elect Bevin now, we only have ourselves to blame,” Jones tweeted.

Jones is big critic of how Bevin’s handled teacher pension benefits.

Jones is also a big critic of Senator Mitch McConnell, who he refers to as “Darth Vader,” and has formed an exploratory committee to run for the Senate in 2020. He’s also in the process of writing an anti-McConnell book entitled, “Hey Mitch, How Mitch McConnell Sold Out Kentucky (and America too).”

Since Jones has decided to form an exploratory committee, the broadcaster was fired from a Lexington TV show he co-hosted. The station management believes this represents a conflict of interest.

“Matt Jones is no longer with ‘Hey Kentucky!’ As a broadcaster of balanced and unbiased news and information, WLEX has an obligation to fairness across its platforms and we believe this decision is consistent with that commitment. ‘Hey Kentucky!’ and WLEX will continue to cover Kentucky’s U.S. Senate race with the same objectivity and transparency with which it reports all political races and other stories important to its Lexington community,” read a statement from LEX 18 VP and General Manager Pat Dalbey.

But it wasn’t Bevin or McConnell who got Jones fired, but his potential opponent (if he runs) in the Democrat primary, according to a published report.

“The manager of Amy McGrath’s Kentucky Senate campaign was behind the recent firing of McGrath’s potential rival in the Democratic primary, according to Kentucky sources with knowledge of the unusual development in the high-profile race,” wrote Ryan Grim and Akela Lacy for The Intercept.

Jones said that after crisscrossing the state talking to Kentuckians to research his McConnell book, he will decide whether to run.

“It makes a lot more sense for me to make the final decision after I’ve done that, after I’ve listened to Kentuckians and talked to Kentuckians about what they want in a senator and whether or not I’m the right person going against McConnell,” Jones told the Courier-Journal. “So rather than me just sort of declaring that I’m the best candidate, I’d like to talk to people and hear what they have to say.”

Jones is also a harsh critic of President Donald J. Trump, calling his recent tweet on U.S-China trade relationship “insanity,” “stupid,” and causing “the stock market to freefall.”

Jones was troubled by this tweet.

“This is such a stupid tweet,” tweeted Jones. “The President doesn’t have the authority to ‘order’ this and it has caused the stock market to freefall. And for what purpose? It’s insanity.”

Some might consider it insanity for a sports talk host to run for Senate, but we’ll see if Jones can beat the odds and pull off a victory, if he decides to run.