Careful, Kenny Mayne — you could be the next ESPN personality casualty.
At the self-proclaimed Worldwide Leader in Sports’ Tuesday morning upfront event, the cable channel’s funnyman compared his employer’s management team to the North Korean government.
Mayne was speaking to advertisers at the time about Snapchat and how, if one takes a screenshot of a snap, the sender is notified. The fan-favorite quipped that the hacking-happy North Koreans will find out about it too, which feels not wholly unlike the head honchos at ESPN.
Lately, many heads have rolled at the company, which appears to be hemorrhaging talent. Bill Simmons was fired, as was Colin Cowherd and Curt Schilling. Mike Tirico and Skip Bayless just quit, following the departures of Jason Whitlock and Keith Olbermann (again).
Also during this morning’s forum, “First Take” host Stephen A. Smith addressed the future of his program sans the departing Bayless. The outspoken media personality promised the new version — with a new partner — would be “even better.”
“It’s MY show now,” Smith explained, citing a few ways he’ll improve the show. “You will not be hearing about Tim Tebow, or the Dallas Cowboys, or Johnny Manziel.”
Read Smith’s comments here in full.
Broadcaster ABC will hold its own upfront event this afternoon at 4 p.m. ET.