By The Huffington Post News Editors
Not even ESPN‘s most popular columnist can get away with criticizing what may be its most disliked program without repercussion. Citing an unnamed “ESPN source,” Deadspin first reported on Thursday that Bill Simmons had been suspended from Twitter for three days for violating the company’s social media guidelines with his criticism of a recent “First Take” segment. Without citing a source, The Hollywood Reporter claimed to have confirmed the Deadspin report. ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys told USA Today Sports that the network declined to comment.
The tweets that have apparently drawn the ire of Simmons’ employers at ESPN pertained to the argument between “First Take” co-host Skip Bayless and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman. In a particularly argumentative and uninformative segment during last Thursday’s episode of ESPN‘s controversial debate program, the pair traded barbs, with Sherman notably telling Bayless that “I’m better at life than you.” As if often the case when Bayless is involved in a shouting match with an athlete, the segment generated plenty of attention. Simmons vented on Twitter about the nature of the segment as well as those who were giving it more attention than he felt it deserved.
It’s amazing to me that people get so worked up about First Take. Who cares? Just don’t watch it. There are like 800 TV channels.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) March 8, 2013
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