July 21, 2026 • 19 mins
ESPN execs told analyst Ryan Clark in the middle of “NFL Live” that he was being let go in the latest round of firings at the network. Reportedly, the decision to tell Clark while he was on the set was made because the bosses were concerned news would leak out before they could tell him themselves. The plan had been to inform him of their decision the following day, when other cuts were made public. Clark did not finish the show upon hearing the news… he’d been with the network since 2015 and reportedly earned more than $2 million a year under his current contract.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, that folks. It is Tuesday, July twenty first, and
ESPN has parted ways with and fired one of its
long time and high profile INFL analysts. But it's not
that they fired him that's the problem. It's how they
fired him that has ever read body talking? And with that,
(00:23):
welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ fired mid show.
Now your initial reaction to that before we get into details,
he's on TV out of a commercial break? He's not
on TV?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, Well, first of all, rude as hell. Second of all,
dangerous as hell. I mean, who knows what somebody is
going to do when they've been fired during a commercial break?
Are they going to stay on and finish the show?
I think there was ten minutes left in the show
when he reportedly got word that he was being let go.
(00:56):
What if he stuck around and spoke his mind?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
I mean, there was.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Lots of things that could have happened. I thought it
was risky as hell and rude as hell.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
That's the best.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
That's the one.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I want to go back to where you say dangerous.
I get what you're saying. It was risky for the company,
not in some way a threat to anybody else in
the building and want to make it clear that's not
what you suggesting.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
I was saying it was dangerous for the company to
allow somebody with the microphone on and a platform to
say whatever he wanted to say after hearing he was fired.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
That could have gone south.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yes, you really trust your audio guy to cut that mic.
But that is what happened rooms. There's got to be
somewhere along the lines in the history of television that
something like this has happened. I can't think of it
off the top of my head.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
It's funny you say that, because I actually googled has
anyone ever been fired on air before? And I could
find nothing. They kept talking about how Scott Pelley was
fired after a meeting, but I didn't see one example
of this ever happening before, because why would you.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Well, they have apparently a reason for doing so, and
I wonder what you think about the reason. So let's
tell you who we're talking about, Ryan Clark. Now, if
you're not look, if you've turned the TV on at
any point during NFL season on ESPN, you have seen him.
He is all over the place. He does analysis and
as a guest on several of their biggest and most
high profile shows, but Robes, he is a regular. He
(02:20):
was in the chair for Monday Night Countdown. That's the
show leading up to Monday Night Football Robes. That is
the most coveted spot for all of the NFL analysts.
What I'm saying, even if you don't know Ryan Clark's name,
Ryan Clark is a big damn deal. Yeah, also a
super Bowl champion with a very high profile franchise, the
(02:41):
Pittsburgh Steelers. He won with him.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
I'll be honest, I did not know who he was,
and when I looked him up, he was mildly familiar.
But I do recognize obviously, NFL Monday Night count Down
is a huge, big prominent role and it's a big deal.
And I'm sure most dudes I hate to even obviously
plenty of women follow the NFL in water all of
the pregame, game and postgame coverage. But for a lot
(03:04):
of women who maybe more like me, I'll glance at
it and so, yes, he's familiar, but he wasn't for
me a household name.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
But I get it. This guy is a big deal.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
And look, regardless of if you're a big deal or not,
it's a big deal to be fired in that way.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Uh, yeah, Robes, there were We'll say, first of all,
there were rumblings and had been reported by some that
this would be that he was on the chopping block.
A lot of people are now as we record this,
it is Tuesday, July Twinesday first, and this is the
day that's widely expected that ESPN Disney going to announce
a pretty significant round of layoffs, including a lot of
(03:40):
on air talent. Now, it was possible that Ryan Clark
was going to be included in that announcement, doesn't have
to now because his information came out a day early.
So what happened NFL Live Middle of the show yesterday, Ropes,
He's on doing a segment. I can see the people's faate.
Adam Schefter was on with him as well, but it
was four of them on screen. He is talking doing
(04:01):
a segment. About halfway through. They say it was thirty
six minutes. About halfway through, they tossed to commercial. They
come back from commercial and he just ain't there anymore.
And he does not return at any point during the show,
and then words starts coming out that he has been fired. Now, Robes,
do they have a legitimate logic here at least, because
(04:24):
according to the Athletic, the reason they had to do
this robes is because they were afraid it was going
to leak out ahead of time and he was going
to find out about his firing in the press.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Does that read for you no, because I think it's
worse to find out in the middle of a program
when you have a microphone on your head, is on
the show and on your job, and to be distracted
like that and frankly humiliated like that in front of
your colleagues who you've worked with for more than a decade.
Don't even try to act like that's not a humiliating
way to find out you're fired. It could have been
(04:57):
done beforehand, and it could have waited until after the broadcast.
You and I we can get into it later, have
been disrupted with fairly shocking things in the middle of
broadcasts that absolutely, upon hindsight, could have Oh god, you know,
something happened to me, if something happened to you and
I do I actually believe that that is just a
(05:18):
knee jerk reaction. It is I'm going to try to
save my butt reaction without any consideration about what that's
like to be on the receiving end, in the position
of being in front of cameras, in front of colleagues
with a microphone on to have to to read that news,
have everyone see your face, everyone react.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
That's just not okay, that is not how you do people.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Okay, let me wow. Wow. I couldn't even get it
out of my mouth. I was about to say, let
me take Disney side on this.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
I don't think that would ever come out of it.
But I'm glad you said it, because ain't coming from me.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
I st struggle with that for a second. Okay, let
me for the sake of this Devil's Advocate argument, What
if how awful would it have been? Though Robes, there
was real concern that he is going to read this
in the public before we are able to be.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
In contact with him in the next ten minutes.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Wouldn't that, sweetheart, he had thirty minutes left on that show.
Wouldn't that have been ultimately the worst outcome in all
of the outcomes, including the one that we have now.
Wouldn't that have been worse than anything for him to
read it before hearing from somebody, and IV has to
hear it from bosses in the middle of a show,
so beet.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
No, No, I think if he's out searching for or
googling himself during the show, that's on him.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
I mean, Bobay, we do this all the time when
we're on been on TV or on live somewhere. We're
getting text messages from friends and people all the time
saying did you see Oh my goodness, or I just
saw you do this, or hey, what's up.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
I just have a hard time believing.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
And look, I don't know the timeline that no executive,
no person was aware that these rumors were floating around.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Before the show start, Before the show starting, I.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Just feel like, look, is it possible. I guess that
in the thirty minutes that he started the broadcast somehow,
and only then did they realize that the rumors were circulating.
But from what I've read for it had been going on.
The speculation had been going on for hours.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
But it's still well, it had been going on for
actually days, weeks, and even since the NFL season started.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
You are correct, I did read that.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
So look, there had been ongoing speculation that this was
a possibility, and so look they had I don't know
why they were waiting until Tuesday. Usually they do these
things on our Friday afternoon. But for whatever reason, fine,
they were going to do it today. I just believe
that it's something that either should have been decided before
he went on or immediately afterwards. You're waiting for him,
(07:42):
you're physically there, and you're waiting for him when he
gets off the set, and you take him privately in
his dressing room, and you let him recognize and realize
it and process it in his dressing room. It's not
necessarily their responsibility to beat a member of the press. Look,
I just think you need to consider that you're you're
just going to try to do it in the most
respectful way possible, and if he finds out ahead of time,
(08:04):
that's unfortunate. But I think they added to it and
made it worse.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
That's my opinion.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
It seemed like, I guess the ultimate isn't the goal.
They should have made sure he didn't hear this somewhere else. Now,
I will throw this other devil's advocate thing at you.
What if they said the way they put it, the
way the Athletic was reporting it is that the company
was getting press inquiries about him being fired, and that's
(08:32):
why they made to move. I will mention this part.
And you know this as well because we experienced it.
A call will come from some outlet and they say,
we're about to go with this story. Is dead, Edda.
You want to say anything, and they're about to go
put it out. It's possible they were getting something to say, Hey,
we're about to run with this story because we got
(08:53):
sources say he's going to be fired. So unless you
got something to say, we're about to post this story
is that that is absolutely possible. Does that change anything?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
We've seen that happen in our.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Own situation where they don't give you more than two
minutes to have some sort of response before they hit
publish on their end, And.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Yes, that is possible.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I still feel like sending an email is so impersonal.
You know what, have have your folks head to the set,
call him off the set, bring him into the dressing room,
and do it privately.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
I just think, send an email.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Okay, oh no, they did.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
They did do that.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
What I'm saying to your point still let him finish
out the show.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, let him finish out the show and just be
waiting for him at the end of the show and
then and then tell him the news. Break the news
to him after the show. Look, I just think if
it if it hit over the wires, I don't know.
I just think pulling him and having it be just
a big spectacle like that added to the.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Embarrassment and Ryan Clark again.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Look, you can argue he's a firebrand of some kind
over there for ESPN. But that's the point, is it not.
It's a reason he is been successful. You stick around
for ten years, you have hot takes, you have an opinion,
you have strong opinions. You are polarizing ropes. A lot
of these guys, a lot of the big name analysts
over there aren't just beloved. A lot of them get heats.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
They get feisty, but they do they.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Put out some heated comments or something they know is
going to get people worked up. And so he was
in the middle of that. People have plenty of issues
with him things he said in the past, given his
opinions having to do with race, having with women, having
to do with all kinds of things. That ain't what
we're talking about. It's not that he was fired that
people are taking issue with because a lot of people
who are even commenting roles and saying, yeah, I didn't
(10:38):
like a lot of what he said and thought it
was idiotic, but damn you had to do the.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Brother like that exactly.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
And even the people who saw it coming, who had
heard his name, and I'm sure obviously Ryan Clark knew
his name was on the potential list of those who
are about to be fired. He's no dummy. We all
hear these things, we all get wind. It's not like
perhaps even this was shocking, but it's not okay to
(11:05):
do somebody like that.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
It just isn't.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Yeah, and this is a guy, as we mentioned, he
was a part of one of the most storage franchises
in all of the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played
for the Giants for a couple of years. I think
he was in Washington as well, but then he landed
found a good home in Pittsburgh. Actually was a Pro
bowler one year, won the twenty fifteen No he's retired
in twenty fifteen. I can't remember what year their Super
Bowl championship was, but he was thirteen years. They're Robes
(11:31):
playing on defense as a safety and it was a
star of that team and became a star over at ESPN.
I don't know Robes is just just kind of a
weird and awkward one, just a weird set of circumstances,
or is anything more? Do companies just not know how
to handle these things when they're high profile, when you're
having to do with media sometimes? Do we just where
(11:54):
do you give anybody a sense of dignity when you're
letting them go? You're firing somebody that's bad enough. But
I've been around called Ryan a little bit, always liked
the brother, I like his commentary, But it just seems,
no matter what you think about him, why we do
somebody dirty like this?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Yeah, it just seems like that wasn't helping things to
do it In the middle of the show. Who did
that's who? Who did that save? Did that save the company?
Did that save Ryan? Like? Who won in that in
that decision? Who came out looking better? Or how did
that decision improve the situation?
Speaker 1 (12:35):
You know, I'm going to ask folks, robot one more
question about another possible scenario. Stay here, we'll find out
if this was a better option, which was to not
let him on TV that day in the first place.
Stay here.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Welcome back everyone on to this episode of Amy and TJ.
It was a hell of a day for ESPN's or
I should say the former analyst for ESPN, Ryan Clark,
who found out in the middle of his on air
broadcast during the commercial break that he was being fired.
(13:22):
Now TJ thinks that there is a possible scenario in
which I will say that was the best option they had.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
I'm glad they took it. What say you, TJ? Is
that scenario?
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Look, it's possible. I'm trying to you know what I'm
trying to do. I'm even trying to give Disney grace Jesus,
I am.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Even trying all by your say, Disney.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Grace that somebody's heart was in the right place even
though they made the wrong call. We have seen that before,
possibly as well, a quick, a rash, a rush decision,
worried about a appearances. If oh my god, if he
finds out he's fired and we haven't told him first,
that's going to look awful on us. Let's run out
(14:07):
here and tell him at ten thirty in the middle
of the broadcast. Maybe maybe that was a scenario Robes.
But the other one, what if what if they've known
for how many days weeks they were going to fire?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
They've known for a while that they were going to
fire him.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
If you're going to do the firings on Tuesday, do
you let them on TV on Monday? If you knew
that as an executive, would you let him go on
TV on Monday? Don't you have to hold it? Don't
you have to hold it until Tuesday when you let
everybody else know. You can't just pull him on Monday.
What do you do? Baby? There's a lot of people
on TV yesterday and maybe even this morning who don't
(14:46):
know they're not going to have a job tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah. No, I mean, I'm not saying it's easy to
fire someone, but I just think that, especially when you
have high profile folks where there have been whispers and
speculation that they're going to be fired, you have to
assume that that stuff's gonna leak. Look, we are not
We're not naive in this business. We understand we're in
an industry where people are paid to talk about other people.
(15:10):
So why do you think that folks who are in
that industry and fine, you may think they're loyal to you,
aren't going to go talk to other news outlets. I mean,
that's what we do for a living. So I think
that's really naive to think that somehow they could keep
that under the close to the vest and under wraps
until they made the announcement. I just think there should
have been some more honest conversation and some foresight into
(15:31):
what may have happened or what could have happened, and
they could have avoided this spectacle altogether, no question.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
And do I think they've known for days and weeks?
Of course they have. Of course they have.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
And a lot of folks look, road are our hearts
to go out to. And we've been in the industry
long enough, yes, still broadcasting, not in television broadcasting, but
robes in all we've seen these things are cyclical. It
just happens every couple of years. There's some big round
(16:06):
of layoffs, maybe at your company, maybe at another company,
and everybody's waiting to see if they're going to survive
that round in ropes. Today is not a fun day
at ESPN or NFL network that are expecting a good
round or significant round of layoffs today. That sucks. That
always sucks in the industry. It sucks to see this
and that we take no joy in seeing, even some
(16:31):
our former company and some former colleagues, even robes going
through this right now. It just sucks.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
No, I mean in the entire industry is suffering and
we are seeing more and more rounds of these layoffs,
these cutbacks as they are trying to make the profit
margins work better. When you have fewer viewers, you have
to end up losing some high profile and highly paid talent.
And look of note, he was making north of two
million dollars a year. He had just resigned a contract
(16:59):
in twenty twenty four or I'm sure he is wildly disappointed,
just especially because the Super Bowl finally coming to ABC ESPN.
It's not been in their hands in two decades, So
this was a real opportunity to shine and to be
able to use some of his hands on real life
experience in his commentary talking about what it's like to
be in the Super Bowl. So yeah, I'm sure he
(17:21):
is not only shocked and saddened by how it happened,
but the fact that it did altogether. Given the timing
of where ESPN is going in terms of their soon
to be coverage of the of the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
I don't know if this could possibly change anything in
his stars and his fate moving forward in his relationship
with ESPN no word of that. But Ryan hated for you, brother, Yes,
even for two people who have had a unique exit
from Disney. Even we were impressed by this, even we've
(17:58):
said it down.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
I mean, look, let us back on the air for
a couple of days, and we thought that was it
because we knew an investigation wouldn't show anything that we
had done anything wrong, that we had violated any Disney policy.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
We knew we had the truth on our side, so
we weren't concerned.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, we were back on the air for two days,
and then they pulled the carpet right from underneath us
as we were about to head to work on Monday mornings.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
So look, at least we were spared.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
I guess that indignity of it happening in the middle
of a newsroom, in the middle or on the set,
that would have I I guess that would have made
it even worse.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
But did you imagine it's still stung like hell escorted
it out.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
They to escort us out the building.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Yeah, I mean that would have been the ultimate humiliation.
We had plenty of it though, to go around. Yeah,
I think we've had our sharefare, our fair share. I
can't even talk sharefare, our fair share of humiliation.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
See I can't even say it out loud. I've got PTSD.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Okay, sorry that was a little so much Disney talking
this for Robot. My apologies, Ah, but we always a
pre jj folks spending a little time and with us.
I am the t j on behalf of my dear
Amy Robot. Will talk to y'allton m.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Hm m hmmm
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Mm hmmm
Hey, that folks. It is Tuesday, July twenty first, and
ESPN has parted ways with and fired one of its
long time and high profile INFL analysts. But it's not
that they fired him that's the problem. It's how they
fired him that has ever read body talking? And with that,
(00:23):
welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ fired mid show.
Now your initial reaction to that before we get into details,
he's on TV out of a commercial break? He's not
on TV?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, Well, first of all, rude as hell. Second of all,
dangerous as hell. I mean, who knows what somebody is
going to do when they've been fired during a commercial break?
Are they going to stay on and finish the show?
I think there was ten minutes left in the show
when he reportedly got word that he was being let go.
(00:56):
What if he stuck around and spoke his mind?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
I mean, there was.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Lots of things that could have happened. I thought it
was risky as hell and rude as hell.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
That's the best.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
That's the one.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I want to go back to where you say dangerous.
I get what you're saying. It was risky for the company,
not in some way a threat to anybody else in
the building and want to make it clear that's not
what you suggesting.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
I was saying it was dangerous for the company to
allow somebody with the microphone on and a platform to
say whatever he wanted to say after hearing he was fired.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
That could have gone south.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yes, you really trust your audio guy to cut that mic.
But that is what happened rooms. There's got to be
somewhere along the lines in the history of television that
something like this has happened. I can't think of it
off the top of my head.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
It's funny you say that, because I actually googled has
anyone ever been fired on air before? And I could
find nothing. They kept talking about how Scott Pelley was
fired after a meeting, but I didn't see one example
of this ever happening before, because why would you.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Well, they have apparently a reason for doing so, and
I wonder what you think about the reason. So let's
tell you who we're talking about, Ryan Clark. Now, if
you're not look, if you've turned the TV on at
any point during NFL season on ESPN, you have seen him.
He is all over the place. He does analysis and
as a guest on several of their biggest and most
high profile shows, but Robes, he is a regular. He
(02:20):
was in the chair for Monday Night Countdown. That's the
show leading up to Monday Night Football Robes. That is
the most coveted spot for all of the NFL analysts.
What I'm saying, even if you don't know Ryan Clark's name,
Ryan Clark is a big damn deal. Yeah, also a
super Bowl champion with a very high profile franchise, the
(02:41):
Pittsburgh Steelers. He won with him.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
I'll be honest, I did not know who he was,
and when I looked him up, he was mildly familiar.
But I do recognize obviously, NFL Monday Night count Down
is a huge, big prominent role and it's a big deal.
And I'm sure most dudes I hate to even obviously
plenty of women follow the NFL in water all of
the pregame, game and postgame coverage. But for a lot
(03:04):
of women who maybe more like me, I'll glance at
it and so, yes, he's familiar, but he wasn't for
me a household name.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
But I get it. This guy is a big deal.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
And look, regardless of if you're a big deal or not,
it's a big deal to be fired in that way.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Uh, yeah, Robes, there were We'll say, first of all,
there were rumblings and had been reported by some that
this would be that he was on the chopping block.
A lot of people are now as we record this,
it is Tuesday, July Twinesday first, and this is the
day that's widely expected that ESPN Disney going to announce
a pretty significant round of layoffs, including a lot of
(03:40):
on air talent. Now, it was possible that Ryan Clark
was going to be included in that announcement, doesn't have
to now because his information came out a day early.
So what happened NFL Live Middle of the show yesterday, Ropes,
He's on doing a segment. I can see the people's faate.
Adam Schefter was on with him as well, but it
was four of them on screen. He is talking doing
(04:01):
a segment. About halfway through. They say it was thirty
six minutes. About halfway through, they tossed to commercial. They
come back from commercial and he just ain't there anymore.
And he does not return at any point during the show,
and then words starts coming out that he has been fired. Now, Robes,
do they have a legitimate logic here at least, because
(04:24):
according to the Athletic, the reason they had to do
this robes is because they were afraid it was going
to leak out ahead of time and he was going
to find out about his firing in the press.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Does that read for you no, because I think it's
worse to find out in the middle of a program
when you have a microphone on your head, is on
the show and on your job, and to be distracted
like that and frankly humiliated like that in front of
your colleagues who you've worked with for more than a decade.
Don't even try to act like that's not a humiliating
way to find out you're fired. It could have been
(04:57):
done beforehand, and it could have waited until after the broadcast.
You and I we can get into it later, have
been disrupted with fairly shocking things in the middle of
broadcasts that absolutely, upon hindsight, could have Oh god, you know,
something happened to me, if something happened to you and
I do I actually believe that that is just a
(05:18):
knee jerk reaction. It is I'm going to try to
save my butt reaction without any consideration about what that's
like to be on the receiving end, in the position
of being in front of cameras, in front of colleagues
with a microphone on to have to to read that news,
have everyone see your face, everyone react.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
That's just not okay, that is not how you do people.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Okay, let me wow. Wow. I couldn't even get it
out of my mouth. I was about to say, let
me take Disney side on this.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
I don't think that would ever come out of it.
But I'm glad you said it, because ain't coming from me.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
I st struggle with that for a second. Okay, let
me for the sake of this Devil's Advocate argument, What
if how awful would it have been? Though Robes, there
was real concern that he is going to read this
in the public before we are able to be.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
In contact with him in the next ten minutes.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Wouldn't that, sweetheart, he had thirty minutes left on that show.
Wouldn't that have been ultimately the worst outcome in all
of the outcomes, including the one that we have now.
Wouldn't that have been worse than anything for him to
read it before hearing from somebody, and IV has to
hear it from bosses in the middle of a show,
so beet.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
No, No, I think if he's out searching for or
googling himself during the show, that's on him.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
I mean, Bobay, we do this all the time when
we're on been on TV or on live somewhere. We're
getting text messages from friends and people all the time
saying did you see Oh my goodness, or I just
saw you do this, or hey, what's up.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
I just have a hard time believing.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
And look, I don't know the timeline that no executive,
no person was aware that these rumors were floating around.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Before the show start, Before the show starting, I.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Just feel like, look, is it possible. I guess that
in the thirty minutes that he started the broadcast somehow,
and only then did they realize that the rumors were circulating.
But from what I've read for it had been going on.
The speculation had been going on for hours.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
But it's still well, it had been going on for
actually days, weeks, and even since the NFL season started.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
You are correct, I did read that.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
So look, there had been ongoing speculation that this was
a possibility, and so look they had I don't know
why they were waiting until Tuesday. Usually they do these
things on our Friday afternoon. But for whatever reason, fine,
they were going to do it today. I just believe
that it's something that either should have been decided before
he went on or immediately afterwards. You're waiting for him,
(07:42):
you're physically there, and you're waiting for him when he
gets off the set, and you take him privately in
his dressing room, and you let him recognize and realize
it and process it in his dressing room. It's not
necessarily their responsibility to beat a member of the press. Look,
I just think you need to consider that you're you're
just going to try to do it in the most
respectful way possible, and if he finds out ahead of time,
(08:04):
that's unfortunate. But I think they added to it and
made it worse.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
That's my opinion.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
It seemed like, I guess the ultimate isn't the goal.
They should have made sure he didn't hear this somewhere else. Now,
I will throw this other devil's advocate thing at you.
What if they said the way they put it, the
way the Athletic was reporting it is that the company
was getting press inquiries about him being fired, and that's
(08:32):
why they made to move. I will mention this part.
And you know this as well because we experienced it.
A call will come from some outlet and they say,
we're about to go with this story. Is dead, Edda.
You want to say anything, and they're about to go
put it out. It's possible they were getting something to say, Hey,
we're about to run with this story because we got
(08:53):
sources say he's going to be fired. So unless you
got something to say, we're about to post this story
is that that is absolutely possible. Does that change anything?
Speaker 3 (09:00):
We've seen that happen in our.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Own situation where they don't give you more than two
minutes to have some sort of response before they hit
publish on their end, And.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Yes, that is possible.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I still feel like sending an email is so impersonal.
You know what, have have your folks head to the set,
call him off the set, bring him into the dressing room,
and do it privately.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
I just think, send an email.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Okay, oh no, they did.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
They did do that.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
What I'm saying to your point still let him finish
out the show.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yeah, let him finish out the show and just be
waiting for him at the end of the show and
then and then tell him the news. Break the news
to him after the show. Look, I just think if
it if it hit over the wires, I don't know.
I just think pulling him and having it be just
a big spectacle like that added to the.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Embarrassment and Ryan Clark again.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Look, you can argue he's a firebrand of some kind
over there for ESPN. But that's the point, is it not.
It's a reason he is been successful. You stick around
for ten years, you have hot takes, you have an opinion,
you have strong opinions. You are polarizing ropes. A lot
of these guys, a lot of the big name analysts
over there aren't just beloved. A lot of them get heats.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
They get feisty, but they do they.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Put out some heated comments or something they know is
going to get people worked up. And so he was
in the middle of that. People have plenty of issues
with him things he said in the past, given his
opinions having to do with race, having with women, having
to do with all kinds of things. That ain't what
we're talking about. It's not that he was fired that
people are taking issue with because a lot of people
who are even commenting roles and saying, yeah, I didn't
(10:38):
like a lot of what he said and thought it
was idiotic, but damn you had to do the.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Brother like that exactly.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
And even the people who saw it coming, who had
heard his name, and I'm sure obviously Ryan Clark knew
his name was on the potential list of those who
are about to be fired. He's no dummy. We all
hear these things, we all get wind. It's not like
perhaps even this was shocking, but it's not okay to
(11:05):
do somebody like that.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
It just isn't.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Yeah, and this is a guy, as we mentioned, he
was a part of one of the most storage franchises
in all of the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played
for the Giants for a couple of years. I think
he was in Washington as well, but then he landed
found a good home in Pittsburgh. Actually was a Pro
bowler one year, won the twenty fifteen No he's retired
in twenty fifteen. I can't remember what year their Super
Bowl championship was, but he was thirteen years. They're Robes
(11:31):
playing on defense as a safety and it was a
star of that team and became a star over at ESPN.
I don't know Robes is just just kind of a
weird and awkward one, just a weird set of circumstances,
or is anything more? Do companies just not know how
to handle these things when they're high profile, when you're
having to do with media sometimes? Do we just where
(11:54):
do you give anybody a sense of dignity when you're
letting them go? You're firing somebody that's bad enough. But
I've been around called Ryan a little bit, always liked
the brother, I like his commentary, But it just seems,
no matter what you think about him, why we do
somebody dirty like this?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Yeah, it just seems like that wasn't helping things to
do it In the middle of the show. Who did
that's who? Who did that save? Did that save the company?
Did that save Ryan? Like? Who won in that in
that decision? Who came out looking better? Or how did
that decision improve the situation?
Speaker 1 (12:35):
You know, I'm going to ask folks, robot one more
question about another possible scenario. Stay here, we'll find out
if this was a better option, which was to not
let him on TV that day in the first place.
Stay here.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Welcome back everyone on to this episode of Amy and TJ.
It was a hell of a day for ESPN's or
I should say the former analyst for ESPN, Ryan Clark,
who found out in the middle of his on air
broadcast during the commercial break that he was being fired.
(13:22):
Now TJ thinks that there is a possible scenario in
which I will say that was the best option they had.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
I'm glad they took it. What say you, TJ? Is
that scenario?
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Look, it's possible. I'm trying to you know what I'm
trying to do. I'm even trying to give Disney grace Jesus,
I am.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Even trying all by your say, Disney.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Grace that somebody's heart was in the right place even
though they made the wrong call. We have seen that before,
possibly as well, a quick, a rash, a rush decision,
worried about a appearances. If oh my god, if he
finds out he's fired and we haven't told him first,
that's going to look awful on us. Let's run out
(14:07):
here and tell him at ten thirty in the middle
of the broadcast. Maybe maybe that was a scenario Robes.
But the other one, what if what if they've known
for how many days weeks they were going to fire?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
They've known for a while that they were going to
fire him.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
If you're going to do the firings on Tuesday, do
you let them on TV on Monday? If you knew
that as an executive, would you let him go on
TV on Monday? Don't you have to hold it? Don't
you have to hold it until Tuesday when you let
everybody else know. You can't just pull him on Monday.
What do you do? Baby? There's a lot of people
on TV yesterday and maybe even this morning who don't
(14:46):
know they're not going to have a job tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah. No, I mean, I'm not saying it's easy to
fire someone, but I just think that, especially when you
have high profile folks where there have been whispers and
speculation that they're going to be fired, you have to
assume that that stuff's gonna leak. Look, we are not
We're not naive in this business. We understand we're in
an industry where people are paid to talk about other people.
(15:10):
So why do you think that folks who are in
that industry and fine, you may think they're loyal to you,
aren't going to go talk to other news outlets. I mean,
that's what we do for a living. So I think
that's really naive to think that somehow they could keep
that under the close to the vest and under wraps
until they made the announcement. I just think there should
have been some more honest conversation and some foresight into
(15:31):
what may have happened or what could have happened, and
they could have avoided this spectacle altogether, no question.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
And do I think they've known for days and weeks?
Of course they have. Of course they have.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
And a lot of folks look, road are our hearts
to go out to. And we've been in the industry
long enough, yes, still broadcasting, not in television broadcasting, but
robes in all we've seen these things are cyclical. It
just happens every couple of years. There's some big round
(16:06):
of layoffs, maybe at your company, maybe at another company,
and everybody's waiting to see if they're going to survive
that round in ropes. Today is not a fun day
at ESPN or NFL network that are expecting a good
round or significant round of layoffs today. That sucks. That
always sucks in the industry. It sucks to see this
and that we take no joy in seeing, even some
(16:31):
our former company and some former colleagues, even robes going
through this right now. It just sucks.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
No, I mean in the entire industry is suffering and
we are seeing more and more rounds of these layoffs,
these cutbacks as they are trying to make the profit
margins work better. When you have fewer viewers, you have
to end up losing some high profile and highly paid talent.
And look of note, he was making north of two
million dollars a year. He had just resigned a contract
(16:59):
in twenty twenty four or I'm sure he is wildly disappointed,
just especially because the Super Bowl finally coming to ABC ESPN.
It's not been in their hands in two decades, So
this was a real opportunity to shine and to be
able to use some of his hands on real life
experience in his commentary talking about what it's like to
be in the Super Bowl. So yeah, I'm sure he
(17:21):
is not only shocked and saddened by how it happened,
but the fact that it did altogether. Given the timing
of where ESPN is going in terms of their soon
to be coverage of the of the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
I don't know if this could possibly change anything in
his stars and his fate moving forward in his relationship
with ESPN no word of that. But Ryan hated for you, brother, Yes,
even for two people who have had a unique exit
from Disney. Even we were impressed by this, even we've
(17:58):
said it down.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
I mean, look, let us back on the air for
a couple of days, and we thought that was it
because we knew an investigation wouldn't show anything that we
had done anything wrong, that we had violated any Disney policy.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
We knew we had the truth on our side, so
we weren't concerned.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, we were back on the air for two days,
and then they pulled the carpet right from underneath us
as we were about to head to work on Monday mornings.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
So look, at least we were spared.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
I guess that indignity of it happening in the middle
of a newsroom, in the middle or on the set,
that would have I I guess that would have made
it even worse.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
But did you imagine it's still stung like hell escorted
it out.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
They to escort us out the building.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Yeah, I mean that would have been the ultimate humiliation.
We had plenty of it though, to go around. Yeah,
I think we've had our sharefare, our fair share. I
can't even talk sharefare, our fair share of humiliation.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
See I can't even say it out loud. I've got PTSD.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Okay, sorry that was a little so much Disney talking
this for Robot. My apologies, Ah, but we always a
pre jj folks spending a little time and with us.
I am the t j on behalf of my dear
Amy Robot. Will talk to y'allton m.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Hm m hmmm
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Mm hmmm
Hosts And Creators
Amy Robach
T.J. Holmes
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