Two former faces of the Washington Post sports desk decided not to acknowledge mass layoffs at the paper during their popular ESPN show on Wednesday.
Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon were both in Pardon The Interruption‘s studio in downtown Washington, D.C., on Wednesday evening, just hours after mass layoffs at the Washington Post included the decimation of the paper’s sports department, where the former sportswriters developed the chemistry to launch their now-legendary show. But interestingly, PTI opted not to make mention of the news during Wednesday evening’s program, despite both hosts’ association with the paper.
No doubt, both hosts had thoughts and feelings about the layoffs. And many PTI fans likely expected the news to be addressed on Wednesday’s show. It’s likely that neither Kornheiser nor Wilbon believed PTI was the appropriate place to discuss the layoffs, especially so soon after Post staffers learned about them in an official capacity.
Kornheiser, for his part, discussed the then-impending layoffs on his podcast earlier this week with former Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins. There, Kornheiser made clear he was at a loss for words about the circumstances facing his old paper.
“I don’t have answers when people ask me about it. I don’t know what to say, I just don’t,” he said.
In the past, Kornheiser has used the PTI platform to defend the Post, but only when it was relevant to a major sports story, like when the paper published a hard-hitting story about LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey.
PTI‘s fast-paced format also doesn’t lend itself to any sort of retrospective, especially at a time in the sports calendar when both the Super Bowl and the Olympics are days away. And a one-off mention during the show’s “Big Finish” would’ve seemed flip.
It is unfortunate that viewers weren’t able to hear either host’s perspective on Wednesday’s show, but it’s understandable that Kornheiser and Wilbon chose not to.
One would expect both hosts to address the layoffs in some way, whether on social media, in podcasts, or in other interviews, in the coming days. Just not on PTI.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.