ESPN Reporter Suspended After Sending Angry Email To Missouri Senator
ESPN’s National Basketball Association reporter has been suspended for a two-word email he sent to the office of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) that the lawmaker later posted on Twitter.
“Fuck you,” reporter Adrian Wojnarowski emailed Hawley’s press office on Friday in response to the senator’s attack on the NBA for “kowtowing” to China.
Hawley posted a screenshot of Wojnarowski’s message on Twitter:
Don’t criticize #China or express support for law enforcement to @espn. It makes them real mad @Outkick pic.twitter.com/WJDxrotUBD
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 10, 2020
The email also included a letter Hawley wrote to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver criticizing the league for “kowtowing” to China by allowing messages that promote social justice on players’ jerseys this summer, but not messages that support law enforcement or are critical of China’s Communist Party.
In a tweet posted later Friday, Wojnarowski apologized for his terse message,and said he was reaching out to Hawley’s office:
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 10, 2020
Wojnarowski’s suspension will last from 1 to 2 weeks, sources told The Washington Post, and he’ll have to skip a trip to Florida to cover the restart of the NBA season. However, he’s expected to be part of ESPN’s future NBA coverage at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando.
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes attacked Hawley on Friday for wasting time on a distracting partisan battle over the NBA, China and Wojnarowski when COVID-19 was raging across America, particularly in the South. Cases are climbing in Hawley’s state.
“There’s a once-in-a-century challenge” now with the pandemic, Hayes said.
“Go be a blogger, go start a podcast, get out of the U.S. Senate, if that’s what you want to talk about,” Hayes said. “There are serious things to be done,” Hayes added.
Check out Hayes in the video above.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.