backfired

Jason Whitlock is the latest antigay activist to (allegedly) get caught partaking in some very gay behavior online

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Jason Whitlock wearing a dark sports jacket and blue dress shirt standing behind a lectern on stage.
Screenshot via X

Jason Whitlock thought he was kicking off the new year with a great triumph.

Instead, the once-formidable sports columnist wound up exposing himself in one of the all-time great self-owns.

On Monday, Whitlock, who works for The Blaze, posted a screenshot of his ESPN.com page. At the top, there was a banner ad for a very X-rated birthday card.

Sensing an opportunity to expose ESPN as a “woke” corporation pushing the gay agenda (sorry, that’s us!), Whitlock sent out a missive right at the start of the Rose Bowl.

“I’m looking at NFL standings on ESPN.com. This is the ad running above the standings. How is this possible? Appropriate?” he posted.

The ad in question talks about birthday sex… in rather graphic terms!

“Balls deep inside of me is a great way to spend your birthday.”

On the surface, Whitlock has a point. That is a weird advertisement to see on a page showing the NFL standings. It would make more sense if there was an ad for sports equipment, or even something like an SUV.

Ads are supposed to reach a targeted audience. While guys hounding for sodomy are certainly sports fans, they’re probably not ESPN’s primary demographic.

Dads buying baseball gloves, or the family’s new SUV, would seem to better fit the criteria, we’re guessing.

But here’s the thing about digital advertisements: they are tailored towards each particular person’s interests. How many times have you been talking with your friends about buying a new jockstrap, only to see your Instagram feed filled with ads about sexy underwear?

As explained by 3D Digital, targeted display advertising “targets potential customers based on a wide set of variables, such as demographics, online habits and interests.”

When people log onto websites, they are fed banner ads that correspond with their recent internet history.

When I log onto ESPN’s NFL page, for example, I see an ad for The Clevelander in Miami Beach. (That makes sense, because I’m always searching for warm weather getaways, only to cry when I see the price.)

Odds are, Whitlock probably isn’t seeing an ad for gay sex-themed birthday cards without reason. Logic tell us, he’s probably seeing that risqué display for a reason.

Thousands of people, including many sportswriters, made sure to let him know.

In many respects, this historic self-own is the perfect encapsulation of Whitlock’s fall from respectability. At one time, he was a rising star in the sports media world, writing provocative columns for The Kansas City Star as a 20-something and appearing regularly on ESPN.

He always cut against the grain, which was one of the primary reasons for his success. For example, he often took contrarian standards on race, chiding “racial opportunists” in the Duke Lacrosse Case and criticizing hip-hop’s influence on Black culture.

When Whitlock left the Star in 2010, he hosted a three-hour radio show blasting the paper’s editor, accusing him of salacious personal conduct.

Despite that toxic behavior, he was admired in the sport media biz for his fearlessness.

“I try not to burn bridges, but he napalms them. He’s fundamentally unafraid,” said Dan Le Batard, an ex-Miami Herald columnist who now hosts one of the most popular sports podcasts in the country.

While always difficult to manage, Whitlock’s career took on a chaotic pace after leaving the Star and ESPN. He worked briefly for AOL Sports and Fox Sports, blowing himself out of each opportunity.

His first tenure at Fox ended in 2012, when he mocked New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin with a racist sexual stereotype.

Still, Whitlock’s work overshadowed his personal controversies. ESPN brought him back to lead The Undefeated, a vertical dedicated to covering sports through the lens of race and culture.

But he never got the project off the ground, and was fired a couple of years later.

His alienating and abusive management style was chronicled in a highly read Deadspin feature story, “How Jason Whitlock Is Poisoning ESPN’s ‘Black Grantland.'”

Now a right-wing troll who rails against women’s suffrage, there is great irony in Whitlock’s previous focus on race. A regular guest on Tucker Carlson‘s old Fox show, he seemingly criticizes Black people, and women in particular, at every turn.

Last year, he blamed Black women for the scorn of police brutality.

The pop star Ciara fired back.

Women owning Whitlock for his sexist opinions is a hilarious theme. When he defended a sports radio host for appearing to target ESPN personality Mina Kimes with a racist quip, she came back with the ultimate diss.

Undeterred, Whitlock keeps on posting through the perpetual embarrassment. In recent days, he’s suggested he’s the target of a coordinated attack, orchestrated by the “Alphabet Mafia.”

We wish we were that clever!

But in the process, he’s managed to own himself… again!

Whitlock keeps fighting back, and continues to fall further behind.

Happy New Year!

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