Cari Champion has one of the toughest jobs in all of sports: reigning in the rambunctious duo of Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless on the daily as the host of ESPN’s First Take. However, yesterday Champion was met with something way worse than any sports related rants her two counterparts dish out. Comedian Artie Lange, formerly of Mad TV and the Howard Stern show, went on a offensive tirade directed at Champion through twitter.
In a series of tweets, Lange set a scenario depicting Champion as a slave, endorsing ideas of rape and other NSFW (or life, for that matter) happenings that tell us just what kind of person Lange is. ESPN has yet to comment on the cyber bullying or come to her defense. However, we expect there to be some sort of statement soon. The World Wide Leader has been very vocal about defending women in sports (as they should be), suspending the aforementioned Smith after his comments about the Ray Rice fiasco.
Twitter has taken to showing solidarity with Champion through the #iSupportCari hashtag. Lange has yet to delete his tweets, but we posted them so you could see just how graphic they are in the event that they are taken down. Please be advised that they are extremely offensive and NSFW.
Update: Lange has tweeted an apology to Champion. He was also removed from the Comedy Central show @midnight, due to his tweets.
Update No.2: ESPN has since issued a statement regarding comedian Artie Lange and his tweets directed at network anchor Cari Champion. According to Sports Illustrated, ESPN says “His comments were reprehensible and no one should be subjected to such hateful language. They objectify and demean one of our valued employees under the thin guise of “comedy”and are offensive to all of us. We will not dignify them with any other comment.”
Update No.3: According to USA Today, ESPN has banned comedian Artie Lange from any further bookings, calling his tweets directed at Cari Champion reprehensible.
