{"id":21682,"date":"2003-10-06T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T07:15:31","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-19T07:15:31","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T07:15:31","slug":"why_i_resigned_from_espn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2003\/10\/06\/why_i_resigned_from_espn\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Resigned From ESPN"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

RUSH: Well, wait. It really isn\u2019t. I mean, it\u2019s not, and that\u2019s not what I meant. I did not mean to be 20 years behind the times. I meant that this is a personal thing with Donovan McNabb and the media in Philadelphia. But I wasn\u2019t clear about that. But I\u2019m not going to go back and restate that because it doesn\u2019t make any sense now. But Kelly, stick with me here. Let me address your point that I shouldn\u2019t have resigned. Let me just tell you why I did. I went through this last week, but given that there are some people, I guess, that don\u2019t want this to go away – you know, there\u2019s some people that apparently don\u2019t want this to fade away – let me go through again what happened.<\/line>First of all, I want to give you the time line. On Tuesday is when I\u2019m preparing for the program, and I take some time to go through the general e-mail file and I\u2019m getting a bunch of e-mails from Philadelphians who are telling me, “You are getting creamed by the Philadelphia sports media today.” So I went to the Philadelphia newspaper websites and I saw it, and slowly became aware, quickly became aware of the slowly effervescing controversy here. And then I saw ESPN\u2019s vigorous defense of what happened, and it just kept building, and then I had to go to Philadelphia after my program on Wednesday for a speech that was long-ago scheduled at the National Association of Broadcasters for Thursday. In Philadelphia on Wednesday night, I received an e-mail from I guess the second-in-charge executive at ESPN. <\/line> And his message to me was very clear: “Tom Jackson is unhappy. You should call him.” Actually it came to me during the program on Wednesday, before I had left for Philadelphia. So immediately after the program ended on Wednesday, I called Tom Jackson at his home in Ohio, and somebody – I assume it was his wife answered, I don\u2019t know – I asked if he was there, they said “no,” and I said, “Please tell him I called.” They said, “Okay,” hung up. I got on the plane; I went to Philadelphia, and when I got to Philadelphia, the other thing had – I was told when I got to Philadelphia that the National Enquirer thing on the drugs had broken. So, you know, we were dealing with that, trying to figure out what that was about. And then I got some e-mail from the exec again at ESPN telling me that they didn\u2019t think they could “save Tom Jackson.”<\/line><\/p>\n

Now, I interpreted that to mean – and they didn\u2019t say this specifically to me – but I interpreted this to mean that Tom Jackson was telling them he wasn\u2019t going to work on the same set that I was. Now, you have to understand. Here\u2019s my thinking on this. I\u2019ve been there four weeks. Tom Jackson and Chris Berman been there 17 years. Steve Young has been there four or five years and this is also Michael Irvin\u2019s first year, and I know that they\u2019re uncomfortable with this. They have to be. Nobody said a word to me as it happened. Nobody said to me after the program. Nobody said anything to me ever until Wednesday when the ESPN…I still have not heard from Tom Jackson. I\u2019ve tried to call him. I did hear, as I say, from Chris Berman on Thursday in a phone call, but it didn\u2019t contain anything like what he said on the air yesterday. But you have to understand, these guys know that the establishment is going to crush them if they rise up and do anything other than what they did yesterday. They don\u2019t want to deal with this.<\/line>CALLER: That\u2019s the precise point.<\/line>RUSH: They\u2019ve got a football show. This kind of stuff makes them nervous. There\u2019s a story I could tell you. Let me. I\u2019ll just, I\u2019ll tell you the story.<\/line>CALLER: First could I make a comment?<\/line>RUSH: Yeah, go ahead.<\/line>CALLER: My thing is, you have always been known for being frank and speaking your mind. A trait that\u2019s pretty much gone in America. Whether people accept it right or wrong, believe it or not, you\u2019re going to state your mind. They knew that when they hired you, everybody in America knows that, everybody does, and for you to say, [paraphrasing] “Okay, well, then I\u2019ll just back up and resign.” I think that does a discredit for the people that have followed your program for many years and have listened to you. I haven\u2019t always agreed with you, but I do respect you, and the reason why I respect you is because what you say is true with you. There\u2019s no cloak and dagger; you\u2019re just up front and honest. And for you to resign, that simply says, “Okay, you guys win.”<\/line>RUSH: Okay, then, Kelly, should I have changed my posture and made them fire me?<\/line>CALLER: I would have made them fire you. They knew what they were getting when they hired you. So I wouldn\u2019t have made it easy for them, and I think you let a lot of real liberal people off the hook and gave them weeks of tabloid news to talk about you quitting. I would have made, I would have made them be what they are. They would have to prove…<\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH: You know, there are many takes on my resigning. There\u2019s yours. Mike Lupica had a piece in the New York Daily News yesterday which opined that I quit because I couldn\u2019t take the heat and didn\u2019t want to take the heat – and that wasn\u2019t the case. I was looking forward to this next show. We major in heat here!<\/line>CALLER: Exactly.<\/line>RUSH: We define heat here. I was looking forward to this show. I was looking forward to the production meeting on Saturday where the whole staff was going to devise the way they\u2019re going to come back at me on a probably very highly watched show on Sunday. But it didn\u2019t happen. That\u2019s one that I couldn\u2019t take the heat. And then there\u2019s yours that I sort of gave them an out. You know, I told the truth on this, and it may have been in a moment of, I don\u2019t know what you would call it. When I heard of the degree of angst and upset that the cast was having over this – and I did not hear that from the cast; I was told it by management – I don\u2019t want to cause them that. By the way, there was never – nobody ever said to me “You must promise never to bring politics to the program.” That wasn\u2019t said to me. There was no tantamount agreement between me and the cast not to bring politics. It wasn\u2019t even stated.<\/line>CALLER: It was an opinion of a football fan. If it was being in the club or anywhere else, it would have just been a discussion, because you said everybody labeled it as a racist political statement because that\u2019s what your show is.<\/line>RUSH: Yeah.<\/line>CALLER: What I\u2019m saying is they knew that when they hired you, that\u2019s what you do. You\u2019ve been doing it for years.<\/line>RUSH: Yes.<\/line>CALLER: And they know when you came on the set that you can\u2019t – who you are is who you are. You\u2019ve been that way on your show.<\/line>RUSH: Yeah.<\/line><\/p>\n

CALLER: You\u2019ve been that way everywhere you go.<\/line>RUSH: Let me just tell you a couple things here just to back you up. After the first couple of weeks there were some people who said, “Your essays aren\u2019t edgy enough.”<\/line>CALLER: Mmm-hmm.<\/line>RUSH: “Your essays aren\u2019t edgy enough.” Now, I\u2019m sitting there. You know, I was purposely trying to be strictly football. I was trying to go out of my way not (to be controversial). In fact, if there was politics mentioned on this show, it was the other guys doing it. Young made a political comment at one point; Chris Berman made a political comment – and each time they did, I pointed at them. I said, “Whoa, there\u2019s supposed to be no politics on this show.” I\u2019m telling you the truth here. If it makes me look bad, then I\u2019m sorry. But I liked these guys, and I was just trying to spare them any angst because I know that they don\u2019t have any familiarity with this. In fact, let me tell you a story, the second story. After one of the production meetings within the past two or three weeks, it was discussed among us, on the crew, that the Fox show was working on an impersonation of a couple of us, and one of the two of us about whom they were working on an impersonation was very concerned about this, and I looked at him and I said, “You\u2019re worried about this?” Oh, yeah! I said, “They\u2019re going to imitate us on their show? That\u2019s great! This is exactly what we want. They are so noticing what we\u2019re doing they\u2019re going to imitate it!” They\u2019re going to defame me. “They\u2019re not. They may make fun of you, but they can\u2019t defame you. You are who you are.” That told me that there\u2019s simply no understanding of – I mean, it\u2019s axiomatic when the competition talks about you, you\u2019re winning. This was looked at as a crisis. Oh, gee. So, you know, there\u2019s a lot of things that happened before this, Kelly, that led to my resigning. I understand your take on this, and I appreciate it. I was not trying to let any of you who listen to this program down at all. I was simply trying to respect the people whose show this ESPN show is, and if they were going to say, if they were acting and feeling the way I was told they were, I didn\u2019t want to be the source of that for them.<\/line>CALLER: Oh, okay.<\/line>RUSH: It\u2019s no more complicated than that. It really isn\u2019t.<\/line>CALLER: I just think if you stayed on, it would have made them be who they are, and not this behind-the-back stuff, wouldn\u2019t allow it.<\/line>RUSH: In hindsight, you\u2019re probably right. I\u2019ve heard from a lot of people who have said the same thing, Kelly, so you\u2019re not alone. A lot of people wish I\u2019d taken your course of action. I may have made it a little too soon. I can\u2019t change it now, though. I\u2019m glad you called, Kelly, thanks very much for your thoughts. <\/line>END TRANSCRIPT<\/line><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Well, wait. It really isn\u2019t. I mean, it\u2019s not, and that\u2019s not what I meant. I did not mean to be 20 years behind the times. I meant that this is a personal thing with Donovan McNabb and the media in Philadelphia. But I wasn\u2019t clear about that. But I\u2019m not going to go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy I Resigned From ESPN - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2003\/10\/06\/why_i_resigned_from_espn\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Why I Resigned From ESPN - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: Well, wait. It really isn\u2019t. I mean, it\u2019s not, and that\u2019s not what I meant. I did not mean to be 20 years behind the times. I meant that this is a personal thing with Donovan McNabb and the media in Philadelphia. But I wasn\u2019t clear about that. But I\u2019m not going to go […]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"description\":\"Excellence In Broadcasting\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2003\/10\/06\/why_i_resigned_from_espn\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2003\/10\/06\/why_i_resigned_from_espn\/\",\"name\":\"Why I Resigned From ESPN - The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-19T07:15:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-05-19T07:15:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2003\/10\/06\/why_i_resigned_from_espn\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2003\/10\/06\/why_i_resigned_from_espn\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2003\/10\/06\/why_i_resigned_from_espn\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why I Resigned From ESPN\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why I Resigned From ESPN - The Rush Limbaugh Show","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2003\/10\/06\/why_i_resigned_from_espn\/","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_title":"Why I Resigned From ESPN - The Rush Limbaugh Show","twitter_description":"RUSH: Well, wait. It really isn\u2019t. I mean, it\u2019s not, and that\u2019s not what I meant. I did not mean to be 20 years behind the times. I meant that this is a personal thing with Donovan McNabb and the media in Philadelphia. But I wasn\u2019t clear about that. But I\u2019m not going to go […]","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/","name":"The Rush Limbaugh Show","description":"Excellence In Broadcasting","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2003\/10\/06\/why_i_resigned_from_espn\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2003\/10\/06\/why_i_resigned_from_espn\/","name":"Why I Resigned From ESPN - The Rush Limbaugh Show","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-05-19T07:15:31+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-19T07:15:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2003\/10\/06\/why_i_resigned_from_espn\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2003\/10\/06\/why_i_resigned_from_espn\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2003\/10\/06\/why_i_resigned_from_espn\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why I Resigned From ESPN"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21682"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21682\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}