In a discussion about the uproar surrounding ESPN reporter Jemele Hill, professional has-been Curt Schilling explained to Michael Smerconish why he wouldn't fire her.
"I would have never hired her. She has no place in any platform that represents... I think she's openly racist. I don't need to tell you guys that. You guys have been at the forefront of his conversation with CNN since Trump's been in office," Schilling said.
Smerconish asked him what he meant,
"Oh, well, you guys, CNN -- not you specifically, Michael, or anything physically from you -- but CNN has been at the vanguard from everything from the dossier, to calling Trump a white supremacist time after time, anchor after anchor with no validation, no support for the comments. and the white supremacy 20 years ago on the Oprah Winfrey Show." (Editor's note: WTF?)
"This is the same that said with female anchors with her hands up, don't shoot. Even though that was considered to be a complete fabrication or lie. I never heard anyone at CNN retract that," Schilling said.
"Listen, I'd love on a different day to litigate each one of the points that you just made here. because there's a response for each one of them," Smerconish said.
"Instead, what I'll do, I'll respond to you by saying you were fired for being a conservative but put back on the screen that Facebook post that Curt Schilling cherry-picked a photograph and you used it to besmirch an entire class of individuals. That's why you got fired. Do you want to have that conversation? Because we'll have it."
"Not true, Mike. I didn't besmirch an entire group of people."
"Off course you did. Do you think that the image that's on the screen is typical of the transgendered among us? Seriously."
"No, I never said it was. That wasn't my picture --"
"By implocation, you did. Cheap shot," Smerconish said.
Schilling answered with more argle bargle. Smerconish fired back.
"Let me tell you something: I deal in evidentiary thinking -- 'I don't like you guys, your network,' if you have a beef -- hold on a second. You know what, you were pompous in Philly and you're pompous today. You come on my program and make assertions, none with specificity relative to me and my program. Now give me the final word out of decency. Go ahead."
Schilling insisted he was talking about CNN, not Smerconish specifically. Smerconish responded by saying conservatives talk about personal responsibility, yet dodge it when they can.
"Why don't we have a conversation about your behavior that caused you to be fired from ESPN? Instead of you turning around and wanting to talk about the dossier that Buzzfeed produced. I thought we were having a conversation about how ESPN canned you," he said.
"Right, they should have me -- my first amendment rights weren't abridged. I got fired for something that my boss disagreed with. That's how it worked. I got fired for reasons of my own doing. I don't have a problem admitting that," Schilling insisted.
Smerconish stressed he was in favor of "consistency."
"But then you can agree with me that's not even remotely close to what they do," Schilling said. "They have made it -- again, this is their right, Michael. they're a privately owned company. they can do whatever they choose to do. Disney and ESPN has decided that they will support those in the world who are every bit as racist and intolerant as they say everybody else is. That's their prerogative."
Schilling continues to be a textbook example of what happens when rich old white guys watch Fox. Sad!
