Massive Purge: ESPN Laying Off Big Name On-Air Personalities UPDATED
GoLocalProv Business Team
Massive Purge: ESPN Laying Off Big Name On-Air Personalities UPDATED
Parent company Disney’s financial woes are driving the cutbacks.
The New York Post reports, “ESPN is laying off some of its biggest stars, including Jeff Van Gundy, Max Kellerman, Keyshawn Johnson, Suzy Kolber, and Jalen Rose, in a purge that is expected to result in around 20 on-air personalities being let go Friday as the network hopes to save tens of millions of dollars,”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTKolber Tweeted, “Today I join the many hard-working colleagues who have been laid off. Heartbreaking-but 27 years at ESPN was a good run. So grateful for a 38 yr career! Longevity for a woman in this business is something I’m especially proud of."
Joon Lee posted, “My time at ESPN is over Incredibly grateful for all the opportunities I received over the last four-plus years. I got to live out my literal childhood dream job, worked with some of the most talented people and made so many friends. Really excited to see whatever comes next.”
Others are reporting that Matt Hasselback has been cut as well. He started at Boston College before a long NFL career.
NFL great Steve Young has also been let go.
College basketball analyst LaPhonso Ellis: has also been let go.
Earlier this week, the website Front Office Sports reported that ESPN did not renew the contract of NFL analyst Rob Ninkovich, NHL analyst Chris Chelios and SportsCenter anchor Neil Everett.
Disney Cuts
CNN is reporting that cuts at Disney are in the thousands.
"Disney, which owns ESPN, is laying off 7,000 employees. The person familiar with the plans said that ESPN’s layoffs were unrelated to the broader layoffs at Disney," reported CNN.
This story is developing...
This story was updated at 4:35 PM and we corrected an embarrassing typo.