NEW YORK — (CNN) Sarah Palin tore into ESPN on Thursday night, calling the network “whimpering” and “intolerant” for suspending baseball analyst Curt Schilling for a tweet comparing radical Muslims to Nazis.
In a Facebook post, Palin accused ESPN of buying into terrorist propaganda and advancing “liberal global politics.”
On Tuesday night, Schilling re-posted a meme that read: “It’s said only 5-10% of Muslims are extremists. In 1940, only 7% of Germans were Nazis. How’d that go?” The text was emblazoned over a red-tinted photo of Adolf Hitler, with Schilling adding, “The math is staggering when you get to true #’s.”
ESPN suspended Schilling from coverage of the Little League World Series over the incident, saying in a statement “Curt’s tweet was completely unacceptable, and in no way represents our company’s perspective. We made that point very strongly to Curt and have removed him from his current Little League assignment pending further consideration.” Schilling has since apologized.
But while intended to temper outrage on social media over Schilling’s tweet, ESPN’s statement appears to have stirred up a new controversy. The former GOP vice presidential candidate authored a lengthy statement of her own denouncing ESPN for the suspension and offering her support for Schilling and the tweet itself.
Titled “ESPN IS A JOURNALISTIC EMBARRASSMENT,” Palin’s post tore into the sports network, charging “ESPN what happened to you? Your intolerant PC police are running amok and making a joke out of you!”
“ESPN reacted about as fast as a Schilling pitch,” she wrote, calling the statement of suspension by the network “whimpering.” Palin then trashed ESPN over an incident in 2011 in which she was involved.
“One, there’s been crude, rude bile spewing from the once-great sports network for years now,” she argued. “Trust me. I know. My name and reputation’s been in it. One ESPN affiliate’s on-air rant featuring their misogynist, animalistic ‘analysts’ grunting and giggling through an entire x-rated celebration of violence against women didn’t even draw a chirp from ESPN’s wussified leaders.”
Palin was referring to a September 2011 interview on ESPN radio affiliate KWWM, based out of Las Vegas, in which famed boxer Mike Tyson made crude and offensive remarks about a spurious relationship between Palin and former NBA star Glen Rice.
After ripping the ESPN for its handling of that incident, Palin pivoted to defending Schilling and his tweet. She wrote, “Two — Schilling — was he wrong? No! In fact his stats were too generous is estimating Muslim’s attitudes.”
Palin continued, “Reports show it’s 88% of Egyptian Muslims favoring DEATH for anyone who leaves Islam. The majority of Muslims in many other places share the sentiment. In America, these views could correctly be described as ‘extreme.’” She added that “The difference between Hitler’s army and the genocidal maniacs of ISIS is that the jihadists don’t have as much power … yet.”
Saving her most severe condemnation for last, Palin blasted ESPN saying, “By denying the accuracy of Schilling’s tweet, ESPN shows its weakness as it buys into the propaganda of ISIS and other terror organizations.” She then accused ESPN of having liberal sympathies before firing this parting shot:
“ESPN — you are awful in this. Stick to sports.”
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