As he called attention to the U.S. Department of Defense removing an article regarding Jackie Robinson’s time in the Army, ESPN’s Jeff Passan had a simple message to the “ghouls” responsible: “Fix this.”
And while it didn’t come easy, Passan ultimately got his wish.
Taking to X on Wednesday afternoon, the ESPN MLB insider revealed that the Pentagon had, in fact, restored the article about Robinson’s military career. The restoration of the article came less than an hour after Passan posted a statement from Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot seemingly doubling down on the decision to remove the article as a part of the Trump administration’s anti-diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts.
“Everyone at the Defense Department loves Jackie Robinson, as well as the Navajo Code Talkers, the Tuskegee airmen, the Marines at Iwo Jima and so many others — we salute them for their strong and in many cases heroic service to our country, full stop,” the statement read. “We do not view or highlight them through the prism of immutable characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, or sex. We do so only by recognizing their patriotism and dedication to the warfighting mission like ever (sic) other American who has worn the uniform.
“In the rare cases that content is removed — either deliberately or by mistake — that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct the components and they correct the content so it recognizes our heroes for their dedicated service alongside their fellow Americans, period.”
Ullyot had also previously sent Passan a statement citing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, which read, in part, “DEI is dead at the Defense Department.”
While it might be too simplistic to say that Passan’s public pressure is the reason the Department of Defense reversed course, the MLB insider’s efforts appear to have played a role in the article being reactivated. It’s also worth noting that “dei” was removed from the page’s URL after initially being added while redirecting to a “404 – Page Not Found” destination.
According to Passan, the Department of Defense declined to answer whether the removal of the Robinson article occurred deliberately or by mistake. But whether he helped convince the Pentagon to reconsider or merely helped highlight an error that has now been corrected, Passan deserves credit for his feverish efforts in calling attention to the situation, which has now seemingly been resolved.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.