Former pitcher and now former ESPN baseball analyst Curt Schilling isn't keeping quiet after the network fired him earlier this month.
Schilling, who was fired for posting a political meme critical of transgender bathroom policy on his Facebook page, joined SiriusXM's Breitbart News Patriot Forum for a segment that aired Thursday morning.
"It was apparent to me early on that if you wanted to go off topic as a sports person, you had to go off topic left or you were going to get in trouble," Schilling said. "Some of the most racist things I've ever heard have come out of people that are on the air at ESPN. They're some of the biggest racists in sports commentating."
Schilling clarified his statement after his radio appearance.
"The memo that was sent out more than once was about they wanted on-air talent to focus on sports," Schilling said to Newsday. "To me, that means focus on sports unless you want to talk about something that is part of the liberal agenda.
"You listen to Stephen A. Smith, and Stephen A. Smith was the guy who said that Robert Griffin didn't play quarterback for the [Washington] Redskins because he's black.
"No, Robert Griffin didn't play quarterback for the Redskins because he [stunk]. Tony Kornheiser compared the Tea Party to ISIS. I don't know any planet where those are sports topics.
"But I don't care. It's OK. I think those conversations need to happen. But as soon as you go to the flip side, the right side, there are repercussions for not talking about sports."
More Schilling
Curt Schilling also addressed his firing by ESPN on WEEI-FM in Boston on Thursday morning, but he also found time to weigh in on Deflategate.
Schilling isn't a fan of what NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is doing, especially to a star player such as New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, whose four-game suspension was upheld by a U.S. appeals court earlier this week.
"First of all, I think it's a joke," Schilling said. "The day everybody found out that everything was based on a lie, nothing changed. If I am one of the other 31 NFL teams, I am looking at myself going, 'Wait a minute. Hold on. This is not good.' I think there is a lot of resentment. And Roger Goodell is continuing to tell people that it is about the integrity of the sport, which he actually is destroying the very same things he thinks he's protecting. He also was very clearly out to defame, whatever you want to call it, his biggest star. I don't get that. None of that makes sense, but it does when you think about it from a power perspective.
"The appellate court ruling basically has nothing to do with the guilt or innocence of Tom Brady. Everything has to do with the fact that, 'Hey, I am the commissioner. I can do whatever I want.' This guy beat the living daylights out of his wife, he's going to get four games and so is this guy who didn't deflate footballs, but someone lied about him doing it."
Sports on 04/29/2016