First Things First co-host Nick Wright has often raised some interesting points in interviews, including how FS1 isn’t a debate network, why it’s worth talking about LeBron James every day, and why his show focuses on elements he, Cris Carter and Jenna Wolfe know well. His latest notable interview came with Brandon Contes of Barrett Sports Media, and had plenty of significant segments, but what he said about Jemele Hill, race, and politics (in response to a question about if sports television should stick to sports) particularly stood out.
First, he said he thought some people went after Hill for comments that weren’t about politics, and that he tends to stick to sports himself, but address political issues when they do impact sports:
On the ESPN front, I think a lot of the people who have been attacked has been very unfair. The things Jemele Hill dealt with…now she did eventually go heavy into politics, I understand that…but before she did that, people were already accusing her of it in my opinion because she’s a black woman on TV talking about sports. I think a lot of that criticism was unfair. I know they’re a competitor, but I’m going to be honest with you, a lot of that was unfair.
…I have very strong political opinions, and I think they bleed through at times when I talk sports. You can figure out some of my politics, but I was also hired to do a job. … I have an obligation to the audience that shows up, to give them what they came here for.
Now I do have an obligation to myself, that when Colin Kaepernick is the sports story, I am not going to shade my opinions on it. I understand the NFL is a big partner, but I also understand that when Bob McNair makes himself the story by saying the ‘inmates are running the prison,’ that it is a clearly racist statement…
