In 2003, ESPN made an infuriating move: it hired racist, misogynist, homophobic, nature-hating lie peddler Rush Limbaugh as a football analysist. Limbaugh appeared on its National Football League pregame show, “Sunday NFL Countdown.” ESPN’s Executive Vice President of programming and production, Mark Shapiro, hailed the move, crowing that “Rush is a great communicator and a fan’s fan. His acute sense of what’s on the minds of his listeners, combined with his ability to entertain and serve as a lightning rod for lively discussion, makes him the perfect fit for this new role.”
Limbaugh lasted 4 weeks into the gig. That’s 4 too many.
On September 28, 2003, the show’s hosts were discussing Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, a black man and skilled player then in the prime of what would turn out to be a 6-time Pro Bowl career. (McNabb was a terrific all-around athlete; he played both football and basketball at Syracuse University.)
Limbaugh weighed in, ostensibly to claim that McNabb was overrated. But rather than making that argument, using, say, player statistics to compare McNabb to other quarterbacks in the way a sensible, nonracist person might, Limbaugh blurted out this loathsome bit of tripe:
“I think what we’ve had here is a little social concern from the NFL; I think the media has been very desirous that a Black quarterback do well…I think there is a little hope invested in McNabb.”
Former Denver Bronco linebacker turned broadcaster Tom Jackson immediately pushed back, defending McNabb as a player, noting, correctly, that McNabb “has been a very effective quarterback for this football team.” The other analysist, former NFL quarterback Steve Young, also strongly defended McNabb’s play.
But neither analyst called out Limbaugh’s racism, nor took note of the utterly bizarre, conspiratorial nature of his comment.
But we will.
First, note that in Limbaugh’s debased world, showing “social concern” is an unacceptable thing. Social concern is negative to right wingers because it violates their imagined “natural” order of society. Right wingers assume that the natural order is hyper individualist and rigidly hierarchical, and usually a racist and misogynist social ranking at that. Thus, to show “social concern” is to upend the true nature of things. As Ayn Rand taught, concern for others is counterproductive, if not downright evil.
Limbaugh then jumped into a conspiracy theory—and remember, racism is itself a conspiracy theory—that “the media” is “desirous” of a black quarterback doing well. Wow; so much insanity in so few words. To begin, “the media” apparently did not mean him, easily the most widely listened to talk radio host in American history. Or, say, Fox News. No, clearly, Limbaugh used the word “media” in that amorphous way that right wingers deploy it, to debase their perceived enemies without having to cite actual evidence.
Moreover, “the media” and “the NFL” are, apparently, the same thing. In the conspiracist mind, powerful institutions collude. Was Limbaugh suggesting that the league—or the media? —was manipulating the personnel decisions of the Philadelphia Eagles? That is the only reasonable implication of his statement, but how that could work in the real world remains an impossibility. But in racist conspiracy world, forces are at work, foisting quarterbacks upon coach Andy Reid. (Reid, by the way, defended his quarterback, saying "I think the Philadelphia Eagles and the city of Philadelphia are very lucky to have Donovan McNabb." He called his quarterback "the best in the business.") As is the case with most racist conspiracy thinking, Limbaugh did not go so far as to say that this was happening but kept his comments to the shadowy, fact-free world of implication and inference, where the media and the NFL conspire to overpromote black quarterbacks, and reality does not matter.
The blatant racism of the quote is simply the assumption that media praise for McNabb must be due not to his skilled play, but from the “hope” invested in him. If a black person does well, in other words, it must be due to some kind of affirmative action (“social concern”) rather than any kind of reality-based evaluation. For Limbaugh and the racists of his ilk, black people only succeed if “a little hope” is invested in them. Thus, black people do not really succeed without white help. Racism is so often a kind of wicked paternalism. And to the white racist mind, black people most often abuse the help whites offer them. Limbaugh’s NFL/media “social concern” is the same genus of racist insinuation as Ronald Reagan’s “strapping young bucks” or “welfare queens.” This kind of racist claptrap dominates the right-wing world view.
Limbaugh’s comments immediately provoked outrage. NAACP CEO Kweisi Mfume rightly described Limbaugh’s comments as “bigoted and ignorant.” General Wesley K. Clark, the Reverend Al Sharpton, and Tennessee senator Harold Ford Jr., all contending for the Democratic presidential nomination, condemned the remarks. The National Association of Black Journalists called for ESPN to "separate itself" from Limbaugh.
On his syndicated radio show, Limbaugh claimed that he had “no racist intent whatsoever” in criticizing McNabb’s play. Note that Limbaugh defended his “intent”—something impossible for anyone but himself to know—rather than the actual substance of his comments. Later, in a statement, Limbaugh said that, ''My comments this past Sunday were directed at the media and were not racially motivated. I offered an opinion. This opinion has caused discomfort for the crew, which I regret.” This statement is a stellar example of the all-too-common genre of not apologizing or taking responsibility, only regretting how others reacted. The problem is not Limbaugh’s racism, but the (“politically correct”) reaction of others.
For his part, McNabb mostly stayed above the fray, but he did let a bit of his entirely justified anger show, telling reporters, "It's somewhat shocking to hear that on national TV from him. It's not something that I can sit here and say won't bother me.” McNabb told the Philadelphia Daily News that, “It's sad that you've got to go to skin color. I thought we were through with that whole deal."
ESPN initially stood behind Limbaugh. Mark Shapiro’s defense of Limbaugh’s comments are as bad what Limbaugh said. "This is not a politically motivated comment” claimed Shapiro. “This is a sports and media argument.” These comments reflect the impossibly graceless entitlement of Mr. Shapiro. People of privilege can dismiss racism. To those who blindly accept a racist status quo, sports and media have nothing to do with politics. Limbaugh’s comments were simple banter, not “politically motivated”—whatever that might mean. Such people can blithely contend, as Shapiro put it to USA Today that, "We brought Rush in for no-holds-barred opinion. Early on, he has delivered." In this context, “no holds barred” means nothing other than racist provocation. That Mr. Shapiro could not see Limbaugh’s racism demonstrates not only his own blindness, but how easily the far right moves into the corporate mainstream. Shapiro has since continued his successful media career.
Limbaugh resigned from NFL Countdown that October 1st.
Unsurprisingly, Limbaugh doubled down on his racism. ESPN quoted Limbaugh defending himself on his radio show: "All this has become the tempest that it is because I must have been right about something. If I wasn't right, there wouldn't be this cacophony of outrage that has sprung up in the sports writer community."
Limbaugh’s NFL Countdown comments are just one example of hate speech in a career full of it. My assumption is that Mark Shapiro did not overtly want to bring racist content to ESPN. But what he did do is assume that Limbaugh’s provocations were somehow not racism. This is blind privilege and cluelessness, which is its own kind of racist thinking.
What this episode also demonstrates is the stunning biases of our dominant media companies. Truly far-right personalities are regularly given prime time media access, and not just on the Fox propaganda network. ESPN would have to exhume the moldering corpse of Prince Peter Kropotkin to add an analysist as far to the left as Limbaugh was to the right. Instead, we are stuck with media that dismisses overt racism as “an ability to communicate” and a “lightning rod for lively discussion.”
We no longer have Limbaugh’s malign influence on our polity. But, contrary to his own conspiracy theories, we remain stuck with a media system that all too often coddles racist hate mongers, as Limbaugh’s own career demonstrates.