Jason Whitlock

Last updated

Jason Whitlock
Jason Whitlock (53423985355) (cropped).jpg
Whitlock in 2023
Born
Jason Lee Whitlock

(1967-04-27) April 27, 1967 (age 57)
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
Education Ball State University (BA)
Career
Show Speak for Yourself
Fearless with Jason Whitlock
Station(s) Fox Sports Radio
Fox Sports 1
Fox News
Blaze Media

Jason Lee Whitlock (born April 27, 1967) is an American sports columnist, podcaster, and former football player. He hosts a program for the conservative media company Blaze Media titled Fearless with Jason Whitlock. Whitlock is a former columnist at The Kansas City Star , AOL Sports, Foxsports.com, and ESPN. He was a radio personality for WHB and KCSP sports stations in the Kansas City area. Whitlock played Division I college football at Ball State as an offensive lineman. [1]

Contents

Journalism career

Early career

Whitlock's first job was working part-time for The Herald-Times in Bloomington, Indiana. [2] His first full-time job was as a reporter for The Charlotte Observer . After approximately one year there, he joined The Ann Arbor News in 1992 and spent two years covering the University of Michigan. [3]

Kansas City Star

In 1994, Whitlock was hired by The Kansas City Star . In 1998, Whitlock was suspended for heckling fans at a Kansas City Chiefs game. [4]

The Scripps Howard Foundation awarded Whitlock its National Journalism Award for commentary on March 7, 2008. Whitlock was the first sportswriter to win the award and $10,000 prize. On August 16, 2010, the Kansas City Star announced Whitlock's departure from that paper. [5]

ESPN

In 2002, Whitlock started writing columns for ESPN.com's Page 2. Whitlock had guest-hosted several ESPN TV shows, including Jim Rome Is Burning , and Pardon the Interruption . He was a regular fill-in host on The Jim Rome Show on Premiere Radio Networks. He also appeared regularly on ESPN's The Sports Reporters .

Leaving ESPN for AOL Sports

In 2006, Whitlock announced the departure of his online column from ESPN.com's Page 2 in favor of AOL Sports, but initially expected to continue his television work for ESPN. However, after the announcement, Whitlock was interviewed by sports blog The Big Lead, and disparaged two of his ESPN colleagues. Whitlock labeled Mike Lupica "an insecure, mean-spirited busybody", and called Robert "Scoop" Jackson a "clown", saying that "the publishing of Jackson's fake ghetto posturing is an insult to black intelligence." Jackson, like Whitlock, is African-American. Whitlock then disappeared from all ESPN television work. He soon announced to The Kansas City Star readers in September 2006 that he was fired altogether from ESPN as a result of his remarks; he wrote that the company doesn't tolerate criticism and acted as they saw fit. [6] Whitlock's first AOL Sports column was published September 29, 2006.

Jeremy Lin comment controversy

Whitlock's first Fox Sports on MSN column was published August 16, 2007. On February 10, 2012, in the middle of the Knicks' 92–85 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, with Jeremy Lin scoring a career-high 38 points, Whitlock posted on Twitter, stating that "some lucky lady in NYC is gonna feel a couple inches of pain tonight." [7] Silvie Kim wrote in Hyphen that Whitlock "reinforced the insipid and insidious 'small Asian penis' stereotype. [8] The Asian American Journalists Association demanded an apology. In response, Whitlock wrote that he'd been trying too hard to be a comedian, adding "I debased a feel-good sports moment. For that, I'm truly sorry." [9] [10]

Return to ESPN

Whitlock originally expected to be an integral part of the launching of the Fox Sports 1 sports television channel in August 2013, but then came to feel that television work would come at the expense of his writing. Therefore, upon meeting with ESPN President John Skipper, Whitlock decided to leave Fox Sports and accept Skipper's offer to return to ESPN. [11] His new website 'The Undefeated.com' [12] was scheduled to launch on ESPN.com sometime in the summer of 2015. After over a year and a half of delays, ESPN announced that Whitlock would no longer serve as the editor in chief for 'The Undefeated', replaced on an interim basis by Leon Carter, the editorial director for the site. [13] In October 2015, Whitlock's employment at ESPN ended.

Return to Fox

In 2016, Whitlock began a new show airing on Fox Sports 1, Speak for Yourself with Cowherd and Whitlock. Cowherd was replaced by former Buffalo Bills defensive end Marcellus Wiley in 2018, and the show was rebranded as Speak for Yourself with Whitlock and Wiley. On June 1, 2020, it was announced that Fox would not renew Whitlock's contract after the two sides couldn't come to an agreement. [14]

OutKick

In June 2020, Jason Whitlock officially partnered alongside Clay Travis at OutKick. [15] In January 2021, Travis announced Whitlock's departure. [16] Whitlock's immediate response was a tweet: "Do not believe anything written or said about me unless I say it. All else is Fake News." [17] A month later, he gave an interview to Front Office Sports in which he said, in part, "It was a bad business deal, a byproduct of my failure to properly vet my business partners." [18]

Blaze Media

In June 2021, Whitlock joined Blaze Media and started a new show, Fearless with Jason Whitlock. [19] In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Whitlock stated that "a lot of what the left supports is Satanic". [20] In October 2022, Whitlock defended Kanye West after West made a series of antisemitic comments. [21] [22] [23] In 2024, Whitlock interviewed E Michael Jones. Whitlock praised Jones in the interview, during which Jones espoused antisemitic conspiracy theories. [24] [25]

Other work

Whitlock has also been published in Vibe , Playboy , and The Sporting News . In the June 2008 issue of Playboy, he wrote a 5,000-word column questioning America's incarceration and drug-war policies. Playboy headlined the column "The Black KKK", which provoked Whitlock into writing two columns, one in the Kansas City Star and another on Foxsports.com, criticizing Playboy editorial director Chris Napolitano for the misleading and inflammatory headline. [26]

Whitlock has been critical of Black Lives Matter, comparing it to the KKK. He has also referred to it as "Marxist" and a "dangerous" organization. [27]

In 2023, Whitlock released a two-hour video questioning if Michelle Obama was transgender. [28]

In December 2023, Whitlock expressed a dislike of the Nineteenth Amendment and said that granting suffrage to women destroyed the principle of "one vote per household", which he associates with a time when American culture more strongly valued the family unit. [29]

Whitlock has attended and spoken at the conservative summit Turning Point USA. [30]

High school and college football

At Warren Central High School in Indianapolis, Whitlock played offensive line and was team captain of their nationally-ranked and state champion football team. There he would block for his friend, and future NFL number one overall pick, Jeff George. Although not highly recruited by college programs, Jason would earn a college football scholarship to Ball State in Muncie, Indiana. There, he would be a 2-year athletic-letter winner and earn a bachelor of science in journalism degree in 1990. [31] [32]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big 12 Conference</span> American collegiate athletics conference

The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas. It consists of 14 full-member universities in the states of Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kanye West</span> American rapper and producer (born 1977)

Ye is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. A subject of widespread controversy and public interest, West is a significant figure in contemporary pop culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scoop Jackson (writer)</span> Sports journalist, cultural critic (born 1963)

Robert "Scoop" Jackson is an American sports journalist, author and cultural critic currently contributing to ESPN.com.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Sudeikis</span> American actor and comedian (born 1975)

Daniel Jason Sudeikis is an American actor and comedian. In the 1990s, he began his career in improv comedy and performed with ComedySportz, iO Chicago, and The Second City. In 2003, Sudeikis was hired as a writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, and later spent nine seasons as a cast member from 2005 to 2013, playing Joe Biden and Mitt Romney, among others.

<i>The Jim Rome Show</i> Radio show

The Jim Rome Show is a sports radio talk show hosted by Jim Rome. It airs live for three hours each weekday from 9 a.m. to noon Pacific Time. The show is produced in Los Angeles, syndicated by CBS Sports Radio, and can be heard on affiliate radio stations in the U.S. and Canada.

Rick Telander is the senior sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. Hired in 1995 from Sports Illustrated, where he was a Senior Writer, Telander's presence at the newspaper was expected to counter the stable of sports columnists the rival Chicago Tribune had.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LZ Granderson</span> American journalist and former actor (born 1972)

Elzie Lee "LZ" Granderson is an American journalist and former actor, currently writing for the Los Angeles Times as a sports and culture columnist. He was a senior writer and columnist for ESPN The Magazine, a co-host of SportsNation on ESPN, afternoon co-host at ESPN LA 710 and a columnist for CNN. Granderson was named the Los Angeles Times Sports and Culture Columnist in January 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clay Travis</span> American sports journalist

Richard Clay Travis is an American writer, lawyer, radio host and television analyst, and founder of OutKick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jay Electronica</span> American rapper and record producer (born 1976)

Elpadaro F. Electronica Allah, known professionally as Jay Electronica, is an American rapper and record producer. Born and raised in New Orleans, he first saw recognition with release of his mixtape, Act I: Eternal Sunshine (2007). Its success, along with his standalone single "Exhibit C", led New York rapper Jay-Z to sign Electronica to his record label, Roc Nation by 2010 following a multi-label bidding war. His debut studio album, A Written Testimony (2020) was met with critical acclaim and entered the Billboard 200 at number 12; it was followed by his second album, Act II: The Patents of Nobility (2020) in October of that same year. His guest performance on Kanye West's 2021 song "Jesus Lord" marked his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jemele Hill</span> American sports journalist

Jemele Juanita Hill is an American sports journalist. She worked for the Raleigh News & Observer, the Detroit Free Press, and the Orlando Sentinel. She joined ESPN in 2006 and worked in various roles until 2013, when she succeeded Jalen Rose as host of ESPN2's Numbers Never Lie. The show was rebranded to His & Hers which she co-hosted with Michael Smith. Hill and Michael Smith co-hosted SC6, the 6 p.m. (ET) edition of ESPN's flagship SportsCenter from 2017 to 2018.

The Big Lead was an American news blog. The website mainly covers sports news, although it also touches on a varying degree of other news topics ranging from politics to pop culture. Launched on February 24, 2006, it was co-founded by former sportswriter Jason McIntyre and his college friend David Lessa. In June 2010, McIntyre sold the site to Fantasy Sports Ventures for "low seven figures." Gannett purchased Fantasy Sports Ventures on January 24, 2012, integrating the site into the digital network of USA Today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Travis Kelce</span> American football player (born 1989)

Travis Michael Kelce is an American football tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Chiefs in the third round of the 2013 NFL draft and later won Super Bowls LIV, LVII, and LVIII with the team. He played college football for the Cincinnati Bearcats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Benetti</span> American sportscaster (born 1983)

Jason Benetti is an American sportscaster. He is the primary television play-by-play announcer for Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball on Bally Sports Detroit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Mahomes</span> American football player (born 1995)

Patrick Lavon Mahomes II is an American football quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). Mahomes has led the Chiefs to six consecutive AFC Championship Game appearances and four Super Bowl appearances since becoming the team's starting quarterback in 2018. He is one of five quarterbacks in NFL history to win three or more Super Bowls as a starter. Mahomes's career accolades through seven seasons in the NFL have earned him widespread praise from sports journalists, and he is considered to be one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomi Lahren</span> American conservative political commentator (born 1992)

Tomi Rae Augustus Lahren is an American conservative political commentator and television presenter. She hosted Tomi on TheBlaze, where she gained attention for her short video segments called "final thoughts", in which she frequently criticized liberal politics. Many of her videos went viral, with The New York Times describing her as "the Right's rising media star". Lahren was suspended from TheBlaze in March 2017 after saying in an interview on The View that she believed women should have legal access to abortion.

Andscape, formerly The Undefeated, is a sports and pop culture website owned and operated by ESPN. Launched May 17, 2016, the site describes itself as “the premier platform for exploring the intersections of race, sports and culture.”

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Candace Owens</span> American political commentator (born 1989)

Candace Amber Owens Farmer is an American conservative political commentator, author, activist, and television presenter.

Nick Wright is an American sports television personality, sports podcaster, and former sports radio talk show host. Wright is a co-host on Fox Sports 1's First Things First (FTF) alongside Kevin Wildes and Chris Broussard. Wright also hosts his podcast What's Wright? with Nick Wright with Damonza Byrd.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Fox</span> Italian-American actress (born 1990)

Julia Fox is an Italian-American actress and singer. Her debut performance was in the 2019 film Uncut Gems, for which she was nominated for the Breakthrough Actor Award at the 2019 Gotham Awards. She is also known for her eccentric style and online presence.

American rapper Kanye West has garnered mainstream attention for his views on numerous political and social issues. West unsuccessfully ran for President of the United States in 2020, focusing on his opposition to abortion. In November 2022, West announced that he is running again for the presidency in the 2024 election, however no progress has been made on this course of action. On December 1, 2022, West stated that he admired Adolf Hitler, denied the Holocaust, and identified as a Nazi.

References

  1. ↑ Wyman, Elizabeth (March 15, 2017). "For the Record: TV host, former Ball State football player Jason Whitlock reflects on journalism career". Ball State Daily . Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  2. ↑ Whitlock, Jason (June 24, 2011). "I drank all my benefits". Fox Sports. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
  3. ↑ Plambeck, Joseph (September 19, 2010). "Whitlock, Sports Columnist, Embraces Controversy". The New York Times.
  4. ↑ "Newspaper Sports Columnist Suspended". Apnews.com. October 22, 1998. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Columnist Jason Whitlock is leaving The Kansas City Star". Kansas City Star. August 16, 2010. Retrieved August 17, 2010.
  6. ↑ Whitlock, Jason (September 24, 2006). "Freedom to speak has price". Kansas City Star. Retrieved November 27, 2006.
  7. ↑ "Sunday's NBA notebook: Rajon Rondo's triple-double carries Celtics over Bulls". The Detroit News. Associated Press. February 12, 2012. Archived from the original on February 13, 2012.
  8. ↑ Kim, Sylvie (February 13, 2012). "Spike, Jeremy, and Stopping "Asian Profi'Lin"". Hyphen. Archived from the original on February 17, 2012.
  9. ↑ Schilken, Chuck (February 13, 2012). "Fox Sports' Jason Whitlock apologizes for Jeremy Lin tweet". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 15, 2012.
  10. ↑ Dwyer, Kelly (February 13, 2012). "Jason Whitlock apologizes for his unfunny Jeremy Lin comment on Twitter". yahoo.com. Archived from the original on February 13, 2012.
  11. ↑ Jason Whitlock (August 15, 2013). "The B.S. Report: Jason Whtilock" (Interview).
  12. ↑ "The Undefeated at a closer look". Awful Announcing. Bloguin. February 12, 2015.
  13. ↑ Block, Justin (June 12, 2015). "Jason Whitlock Out As Head Of 'The Undefeated'". HuffPost.
  14. ↑ Marchand, Andrew (June 2020). "Jason Whitlock has big plans after leaving Fox Sports". NY Post.
  15. ↑ "Welcome Jason Whitlock To Outkick". OutKick. June 15, 2020. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Jason Whitlock Leaving Outkick". OutKick. January 9, 2021. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  17. ↑ Jason Whitlock [@WhitlockJason] (January 9, 2021). "Do not believe anything written or said about me unless I say it. All else is Fake News" (Tweet). Archived from the original on February 21, 2021 – via Twitter.
  18. ↑ "Q&A: Jason Whitlock on OutKick Fallout, Media's Aversion to the Truth". Front Office Sports. February 11, 2021. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  19. ↑ Steinberg, Brian (June 8, 2021). "Blaze Media Strikes Partnership With Sports Journalist Jason Whitlock". Variety.
  20. ↑ Baragona, Justin (August 23, 2021). "Tucker 'Completely' Agrees With Guest: 'A Lot of What the Left Supports Is Satanic'". The Daily Beast . Retrieved December 4, 2022.
  21. ↑ Leeman, Zachary (October 10, 2022). "Jason Whitlock Defends Kanye With Yikes Tweet: 'Jewish Power Brokers in Hollywood' Want Him 'Cancelled'". Mediaite . Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  22. ↑ Ramirez, Nikki McCann (October 22, 2022). "Conservatives Are Mad Kanye Was Censored for Threatening 'Death Con 3' Against Jews". Yahoo! News . Retrieved April 2, 2024.
  23. ↑ Horowitz, Justin (October 10, 2022). "Far-right extremists celebrate, embrace, and defend Kanye West's antisemitic remarks". Media Matters . Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  24. ↑ Baragona, Justin (January 29, 2024). "TheBlaze's Jason Whitlock Quietly Deletes Promo of Antisemitic Interview". The Daily Beast . Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  25. ↑ Gertz, Matt (January 19, 2024). "TheBlaze's Jason Whitlock hosts notorious antisemite to denounce supposed Jewish control of US government, Black people". Media Matters . Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  26. ↑ "RealClearSports - Articles - Whitlock Versus Playboy". May 20, 2008. Archived from the original on June 20, 2008. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  27. ↑ "Jason Whitlock compares Black Lives Matter and antifa to KKK: 'The enforcement arm of the Democratic Party'". January 21, 2021. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  28. ↑ Izz Scott, LaMagdeleine (October 17, 2023). "Michelle Obama Isn't a Trans Woman. Here's Why Some People Believe Otherwise". Snopes. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
  29. ↑ "The Blaze's Jason Whitlock rages against women's suffrage: "Not everybody has to have a vote"". Media Matters for America . December 18, 2023.
  30. ↑ Strauss, Ben (October 30, 2018). "Jason Whitlock to young black conservatives: 'I'm here to tell you how' to be leaders". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved February 15, 2024.
  31. ↑ Moreno, Eric. "Jason Whitlock: Football is My Soulmate". blogs.usafootball.com. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
  32. ↑ Benbow, Dana Hunsinger. "Indy's Jason Whitlock removed as head of ESPN website". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.