By Andrew Bucholtz on

Apparently, FS1 has some standards for its programming, and Jason Whitlock’s latest Colin Kaepernick sketch didn’t meet them. Whitlock created massive blowback on Twitter Tuesday by posting a photo of him standing around in an apron with someone dressed as Kaepernick holding up a black-fisted glove. TMZ later revealed that the Kaepernick impersonator was Christopher Reid, or Kid from Kid N’ Play. The sketch didn’t show up on Speak For Yourself Tuesday or Wednesday, though, and Deadspin’s Tom Ley reported Thursday that it was never fully filmed, and was axed by SFY producers:

Fortunately for those who were offended by Whitlock’s tweet, the skit in question will never see the light of day. A source familiar with the situation tells us that the producers of Whitlock’s show made a collective decision to spike the segment because it didn’t meet their standards. The source added that Whitlock and Reid had only finished filming part of the skit, and that it had never been officially greenlit in the first place.

Here’s the photo Whitlock tweeted:

https://twitter.com/WhitlockJason/status/905233739264868354

That’s a great triple crown ratio you have there, Jason, even better than Barry Bonds’ career numbers (2,935/762/1,996).  And it drew a ton of backlash; here’s some of the most notable.

https://twitter.com/3lone/status/905253495766343680

Yep, Willis is a current coworker of Whitlock’s, so things are going just great there. Another coworker, Shannon Sharpe, was even angrier, and, in conversation with Black Sports Online’s Robert Littal, said he’d address it with the head of Fox Sports (presumably president Eric Shanks):

Whitlock’s first response to criticism Wednesday was calling it “fake news”:

https://twitter.com/WhitlockJason/status/905416630024380416

He went radio silent for a while after fighting with others, and then had another response Thursday afternoon:

https://twitter.com/WhoisDreaa/status/905907097296142338

https://twitter.com/WhitlockJason/status/905907362266963969

The most interesting part of this, though, may be the comments from Ley’s source that this sketch didn’t meet FS1’s standards. That means they aren’t just letting Whitlock do whatever he wants on the air, an impression you might mistakenly have from seeing some of his other “sketches”:

https://twitter.com/theatlsportsbar/status/867171920873234432

Whitlock has also called Kaepernick “Martin Luther Cornrow,” suggested that Kaepernick isn’t black enough to protest (in the Wall Street Journal, no less, part of Whitlock’s expanded presence there and on other Rupert Murdoch-owned media outlets like Fox News as a FS1 ambassador to conservative readers and viewers), dropped so many ridiculous takes on air that we had to retire him from our weekly hot takes roundup, and still, almost a year later, has as his pinned tweet one of the stupidest and least logical word-salad conspiracy segments ever aired on television:

https://twitter.com/WhitlockJason/status/779436527164141568

This week, though, it was apparently Whitlock who lost the culture war. But he found a way to create something that even FS1 wouldn’t air, and that’s a remarkable accomplishment.

[Deadspin]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

View all posts by Andrew Bucholtz