ESPN Analyst Has Been Fired For Her Old Tweets
An ESPN betting analyst has reportedly been let go after some of her old tweets surfaced on social media.
Kelly Stewart was hired by ESPN last month to serve as a sports betting analyst. Sports betting continues to legalize across the country and media outlets are attempting to capitalize on the growing field. Stewart was hired by ESPN to appear on the network’s Daily Wager podcast and to help cover sports gambling as a whole.
However, Stewart will no longer be doing that.
Stewart has been let go by ESPN after several old tweets, which included homophobic slurs, went viral on social media.
Front Office Sports had more:
An ESPN spokesman confirmed Stewart was no longer with the network on Friday. Sources tell Front Office Sports that her departure was related to old Twitter messages and posts that were flagged after ESPN brought her on board. ESPN declined to state the reason she’s no longer at the network.
Stewart has scrubbed many of the tweets, including six from 2012 where she used an anti-gay slur. Other since-deleted tweets strayed into COVID-19 denial and conspiracy theory territory, a source who viewed the deleted tweets said.
Stewart addressed the situation on Twitter.
“ESPN has notified me that they terminated my contract due to deleted tweets from 2012,” she wrote. “I know the words I used are unacceptable and hurtful and I am terribly sorry for this lapse in judgment, but I cannot apologize for standing up to the vicious attacks I, and so many other female personalities, endure from anonymous online trolls.
“I wish ESPN had been willing to stand behind me, particularly because I’d already been suspended for these Tweets by another company several years ago, but | cannot control their decision. I can only say |’m sorry for the person I was and some of the mistakes | made in my youth.”
SCOOP: Betting analyst Kelly Stewart (@kellyinvegas) cut loose by ESPN after a series of derogatory tweets — including six posts that used anti-gay slurs — came to light. She was supposed to start at the network this month. (written w @MMcCarthyREV) https://t.co/vaw6VlaYAj
— A.J. Perez (@byajperez) June 4, 2021
Stewart had been based in Las Vegas and was excited to start with ESPN.
“Having an experienced voice like Kelly Stewart join us better positions us to expand our sports betting content going forward,” Scott Clark, ESPN senior coordinating producer, said after Stewart’s hire. “She’ll be an important asset to all that we are doing in the space and like the rest of our sports betting team, she will be busy.”
ESPN will now have to look elsewhere for sports betting growth.
The post ESPN Analyst Has Been Fired For Her Old Tweets appeared first on The Spun.
