What's This?
On First Take last week, NFL player Richard Sherman eviscerated host Skip Bayless in an extended exchange that quickly went viral online. Bayless has long antagonized sports fans for what many see as convoluted rants and unnecessary criticism of athletes intended to generate controversy more than provide actual value to viewers. Sherman was widely celebrated for standing up to Bayless and dressing the host down.
Simmons then posted these tweets to his 2 million followers:
Simmons has gained a huge fan-base through his conversational every-fan writing style which he built from the ground up as one of the earliest successful independent bloggers. He started at ESPN in 2001, became a massive star and many media-watchers now see him as untouchable at the company. In addition to his columns, he's also the driving force behind two of ESPN's most critically acclaimed properties — the website Grantland and the documentary series 30 for 30.
His First Take criticism, however, apparently rubbed many ESPN suits the wrong way. Deadspin reports that "Simmons was told to lie low for a few days" for violating ESPN's social media policy, according to a source at the company. Indeed Simmons — normally a very active tweeter — hasn't posted since Tuesday other than to promote a Grantland article and retweet two promos of Grantland podcasts. He'll reportedly be able to tweet freely again on Friday.
An ESPN spokesman we contacted declined to comment.
Was Simmons' apparent Twitter suspension justified? Give us your take in the comments.
Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images the New Yorker
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