Adrian Wojnarowski, (Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has been suspended following a vulgar exchange with a U.S. Senator.
Woj Bomb has taken on a few new meanings over the last 24 hours.
The NBA scoopmaster made headlines on Friday when an email he sent to U.S. Senator Josh Hawley in which he used to very poignant words to tell the Republican how he felt about him.
The email was in response to a press release from the Missouri senator in which he called out the NBA for its support of Black Lives Matter as well as its involvement with China.
“If NBA is going to put social cause statements on uniforms, why not ‘Support our Troops’ or ‘Back the Blue’,” Hawley tweeted. “Or given how much [money] NBA makes in China, how about “Free Hong Kong’ Today I wrote to Adam Silver to ask for answers.”
Woj then sent an F-Bomb response to the senator in an email handwringing about delivering the letter to the NBA.
Hawley — who opposes LGBTQ rights, harshly criticized the federal law prohibiting workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, voted against impeaching President Trump, and recently received a 93 percent rating from the NRA — shared the email in a way that in a roundabout way asked for an apology.
ESPN quickly gave him one.
“This is completely unacceptable behavior and we do not condone it,” the network said in its apology. “It is inexcusable for anyone working for ESPN to respond in the way Adrian did to Senator Hawley. We are addressing it directly with Adrian and specifics of those conversations will remain internal.”
Woj also publically apologized after the email was made public, but it appears that wasn’t the end of the story.
None of that stopped ESPN from suspending Woj indefinitely, something that was reported late Saturday night.
It’s likely not the response itself that has gotten Woj into trouble, rather the fact that he used his company email to send the vulgar message. ESPN is no stranger to buckling to the will of Right Wing anger. Jemele Hill was suspended in 2017 for calling President Trump a white supremacist and then calling for people to boycott advertisers. Like Woj, it likely wasn’t the statement but the additional statement of asking to boycott advertisers that drew the strongest ire of those at ESPN.
The length of Woj’s suspension was not revealed, but with the NBA coming back later this month it’s likely to be shortlived.