More than a year after he was let go by ESPN, college football analyst David Pollack, appreciates being freed from the mothership.
Pollack spent over a decade at ESPN before being part of their 2023 round of layoffs. And if you spent any part of that decade watching and listening to Pollack on College GameDay or any of ESPN’s catalog of shows, you would have assumed he was happy to be there. But 16 months removed from being laid off by ESPN, Pollack is preaching the positives of being detached from Disney’s sports brand because of their social media policy.
During a recent appearance on Fearless with Jason Whitlock, Pollack explained that ESPN clearly states that the opinions posted on an employee’s personal social media page also represent the company.
“Being critical of myself, I was absolutely worried about what I said so I didn’t get fired,” Pollack explained regarding his own social media approach. “I think that’s a bad thing, man. I think that’s a bad job by me. A really bad job by me. And I’ve been very thankful now that I’ve been fired because it’s opened up me to be able to talk about whatever the subject is in a truthful manner.”
“I want to hear from certain people, and I want to hear a biblical perspective, and I want to hear different perspectives besides people that…when you have something to lose, and you can’t talk about something, I can’t trust your opinion,” Pollack continued. “Dan Orlovsky’s a great point. He said what he said, completely his beliefs, what he wanted to say, and then all of a sudden, he’s like, ‘Wait a minute, I’ll take it down because I don’t want to get in trouble.’ It’s freeing, it’s good. I wish I wasn’t a coward. I wish I had the onions to do it when I had the opportunity when I was at ESPN.”
Orlovsky posted “Protect our daughters” on his personal social media page earlier this year amid a rash of disingenuous takes misidentifying Algerian boxer Imane Khelif’s gender after Italian boxer Angela Carini quit their match at the Paris Olympics.
It was an apparent attempt at weighing in on the topic of transgender athletes. Orlovsky, however, quickly deleted that social media post, a decision he since explained was his own. Maybe Orlovsky reached that decision because he felt ESPN wouldn’t approve of the post, or maybe he reached that decision after learning the controversy surrounding Khelif’s Olympic eligibility had nothing to do with transgender athletes.
The concept of ESPN monitoring employees’ personal social media accounts is not new nor exclusive to Disney’s sports brand. That’s the nature of being a very public figure in a very large company. If Pollack makes a social media post about transgender athletes today, it’s “David Pollack” making that post. But if he made a post about transgender athletes two years ago, it would be “ESPN’s David Pollack” making that post.
16 months after being let go from ESPN’s undoubtedly massive platform, Pollack might believe he can use his personal platform to make an even larger public impact. If the ability to post about social or political issues without worrying about what your employer might think is very important to Pollack, then it’s great for him that he stumbled upon this freedom.