ESPN had some ‘splaining to do abut this sexist sign

The latest piece of sexism we’re cringing about comes from ESPN’s College GameDay, which took place this Saturday in Tuscaloosa, AL. The game itself was home team University of Alabama playing against out-of-town rival Ole Miss. On GameDay, the fans were just as contentious as the teams, holding up homemade signs intended to goad on competitors. There was one sign in particular that went too far, held up by an Alabama fan.

It’s obviously sad that this sign exists in the first place, but what made matters worse is that ESPN’s College Game Doy account tweeted the picture during their College GameDay coverage accompanied by the comment “Just no chill.”

It was a bad move for ESPN to give this guy any kind of platform at all. It was also in poor taste for ESPN to frame the sign as they did. At best, social media coverage of this sign could have been a teachable moment, instead, it was a joke that made the problem with the sign the holder’s lack of “chill” as opposed to his insistence on policing female sexuality and treating women like things (as opposed to, you know, people whose sex lives are none of his business).

But wait, here’s the good news: Twitter was not impressed by the coverage of this sexist sign, either, and countless critics took to social media to explain exactly why this sign wasn’t cool.  

The coverage of the sign was handled a little better during the televised broadcast. As CNN reports, Anchor Rece Davis and analyst Kirk Herbstreit had strong words for the sign-holder.

“I can’t condone that type of behavior,” Davis said.

“That is unacceptable,” Herbstreit added.

We’re heartened to see that these commentators condemned the sign, though it didn’t make much of a difference. The tweet is still on College Game Day’s account. ESPN is defending itself on this count.

“Our Twitter handle looks to bring the sights and sounds of the College GameDay experience to the viewer at home and reflect how the fans on site express themselves,” spokeswoman Keri Potts told CNN.

While we wish ESPN wasn’t digging their heels in about broadcasting this sign, we’re hoping the firestorm this coverage sparked on Twitter will help ESPN be more sensitive about their future coverage.

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We’re pretty sure this is the most sexist news report in history