Of all the former ESPN employees to have weighed in on the ongoing feud between Aaron Rodgers and Jimmy Kimmel, Bill Simmons has not been one of them.
That’s not a coincidence.
“It seems like if you worked for ESPN once upon a time, you have to weigh in with an opinion,” Simmons said, making his first comments on the controversy on the latest episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast. “I just don’t care. I really don’t. Good luck to everyone involved.”
And that was it.
We’ll take Simmons at his word, although it’s hard to imagine he doesn’t have any additional thoughts on the matter. In addition to being close friends and having worked with Kimmel, “The Sports Guy” is no stranger to the power dynamics at ESPN, having consistently butted heads with management throughout his time at “The Worldwide Leader.”
In fact, in many ways, there’s no person more qualified to weigh in on the controversy than Simmons, who can likely understand the perspectives of Pat McAfee, Kimmel and even Rodgers. Perhaps that’s why The Ringer founder is sitting this one out — as close as he is with Kimmel, his experience at ESPN more closely mirrors McAfee’s.
Like McAfee, Simmons was a nontraditional ESPN hire who was brought in to attract a new audience, only to find himself in hot water for doing some of the very things that made him attractive to the company in the first place. While there are some key differences in their situations — including McAfee clearly carrying more cachet than Simmons did with ESPN and Disney higher-ups — there was a time where the idea of one of ESPN’s highest profile personalities publicly calling out company executives would have resulted in Simmons hosting an emergency podcast.
But whether it’s his own conflict of interest or genuine disinterest, that time is not now. In the meantime, when it comes to ex-ESPN employees, we’ll have to rely on the likes of Dan Le Batard and Jemele Hill for their perspectives.
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.