You can’t say he wasn’t warned.
Curt Schilling, the former Major League Baseball pitcher and ESPN analyst, was fired by his employer on Wednesday over a Facebook post mocking transgender people, less than a year after he was suspended by the sports network for anti-Muslim comments on Twitter.
The image Schilling shared mocks the ongoing controversy over a North Carolina law that could prevent transgender people from using public restrooms matching their gender identity.
The post has since been deleted from Schilling’s profile, but was captured in a screenshot and published in an article on Outsports.
Although the image was originally posted by another Facebook user, Schilling shared the image to his own profile and included a comment saying “a man is a man no matter what they call themselves” and “laws that tell us differently” are “pathetic”:
A man is a man no matter what they call themselves. I don’t care what they are, who they sleep with, men’s room was designed for the penis, women’s not so much. Now you need laws telling us differently? Pathetic.
ESPN announced it had fired Schilling in a statement published on its website on 20 April, one day after the Outsports article appeared.
ESPN’s statement said the network is “an inclusive company” and Schilling’s “conduct was unacceptable”:
ESPN is an inclusive company. Curt Schilling has been advised that his conduct was unacceptable and his employment with ESPN has been terminated.
Schilling’s Facebook profile contains many posts expressing his views on various topics beyond sports, from religion and politics to political correctness.
His outspoken opinions can sometimes be controversial in their brashness.
Just a few weeks ago, Schilling said in an interview with Sports Illustrated that Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton should be “buried under a jail somewhere,” due to her use of a private email server during her tenure as Secretary of State.
A devout Christian, political conservative and supporter of charities including cancer and ALS research, Schilling wrote an angry post on his personal blog on Tuesday, 19 April, the day the Outsports story appeared.
He said he didn’t post the “ugly looking picture” but made a comment about “the basic functionality of men’s and women’s bathrooms. Period.”
Schilling acknowledged his “flaws,” but defended his “deeply held beliefs” and treatment of gay and transgendered people:
I’m loud, I talk too much, I think I know more than I do, those and a billion other issues I know I have. Like everyone one of you I have flaws, but I’m ok with my flaws, they’re what make me, me. I thank the Lord for the life I’ve been given. A life interspersed and occupied by men and women who are gay, by people of all races and religions, by men and women who dress as the other, by men and women who’ve changed to women and men. Not one decision I’ve ever made about a person has anything to do with those things I just mentioned, nor will it ever.
Schilling shared the blog post on his Twitter account, blaming the controversy on those who were “dying to be offended” by his comments.
For all of you people dying to be offended by something that never actually happened. https://t.co/6V4Ql8gd0e
— Curt Schilling (@gehrig38) April 19, 2016
Many of his fans have come to Schilling’s defense on his Facebook page, including his son Grant Schilling, who said his father may not be “the most informed about LGBT+ culture,” but he has “made great strides to understand people today.”
Although Schilling hasn’t directly referenced the incident on Twitter or Facebook since his firing, and has declined media interview requests, he appears to be unbowed, sharing a post on Facebook challenging the United Nations on climate change.
It’s unclear if Schilling’s comments will hurt his prospects for future media jobs, but Schilling’s social media woes show how online comments can and do cause people to lose their jobs – including those who have gone after Schilling.
Last March, Schilling’s daughter was a victim of abusive comments after Schilling posted a photo of her on Twitter; Schilling fought back and “named and shamed” several of the commenters.
At least nine of the Twitter trolls were either suspended or fired from their jobs.
Image of many dislikes courtesy of Shutterstock.com.
phillipduran (@phillipduran)
I wish businesses would learn to have some separation of corporate and speech. Is it that hard to say, we didn’t hire him for his personal views. If you don’t like what he’s saying, please contact him on his personal twit-insta-face-space and let him know. As for us, we employ him to talk sports and will continue to do so. We hire a diverse group of people and as such we accept the diversity of opinion and will never require our employees to have personal opinions on their time that fit within some predefined corporate parameters. Basically we truly respect and encourage individuals right to free speech. Thank,you, have a nice day and stop being so thin skinned.
Billy Reuben
EsPN has been touting “political correctness” at the expense of true sports reporting for quite some time now (yes, the small ‘s’ is intentional). After this latest episode, I removed them as a fave, and get my sports news from each particular sport’s site (NHL, NBA, MLB, etc). Funny how ESPN celebrates murderers and other criminals, but marginalizes those who express even the slightest modicum of common sense.
Gary
PERFECTLY stated, Phillip! And, I must remember “twit-insta-face-space”. Too funny!
Office
The intolerant left strikes again. They punish people that don’t agree with them. They practice their own discrimination.
jncstevens
It’s funny how the 1st amendment rights only apply to some people and not others. I agree with him, even though I have no idea who he is. I do not want a male over the age of say ten or so in the restroom with me. I don’t care how you identify. If you have male parts you do not belong in the ladies restroom, again over a certain age. There are plenty of family restrooms if you don’t feel comfortable going in the men’s room. The biggest problem that will come up is some sicko that is not transgender faking it to videotape or violate women and kids. You can’t rely on everyone being honest. I’m sorry if you are offended by this, but we are all offended by something and that is just life.
Magyver
@jncstevens Right you are m’lady. In fact what has gone almost unreported is that the governor of that state went public to say that the reason he endorsed that law was to overrule a very bad city ordinance.
You see, the problem was never really about the truly transgendered.
Said ordinance would have allowed pedophiles, perverts and other assorted sex offenders to roam freely in and out not only women’s and little girls rooms but also their dressing rooms at will, without supervision or recourse by security or police.
There was no requirement for the men to look like or dress as females, or even to require them to state that they were transgendered, ergo that city ordinance granted a ‘pervert passport’ to the detriment of women’s rights.
The aforementioned sportswriter actually casts a bad light on a misunderstood and misreported law that went on the books to protect women from both danger and embarrassment.
Anonymous
And you would, of course, have the exact same problem if a transgender f-to-m person used the men’s, right? Because that would only be fair. Some sicko woman might try to violate men and boys.
Right? Equality and all that? Somehow I suspect not.
Magyver
@Anonymous: I assume you realize you’re replying under a woman’s comment, right? She validated the major problem she has with shared bathrooms:
“The biggest problem that will come up is some sicko that is not transgender faking it to videotape or violate women and kids.”
I agree with her, and respect her right to privacy in a restroom. Now, moving on, Google this headline for proof it’s the NON-transgenders that are the problem :
“Top Twenty Sexual Crimes Committed at Target Stores”
Or this one, showing the problem in various other school and public restrooms:
“Top Twenty-Five Stories Proving Target’s Pro-Transgender Bathroom Policy Is Dangerous to Women and Children”
Nobody is claiming that true transgender people are a problem, it’s the sex offenders who can openly march into women’s and little girl’s restrooms now.
Mikaela Suomalainen
Otherwise nice article, but on the second longer paragraph you say “chosen gender identity” which bothers me as gender identity is one of those things you cannot choose just like sexual orientation.
If it was matter of choosing, no one would try to connect their testicles with cable tie and cut them off or have otherwise suicidal behavior and trans people most likely wouldn’t even exist.
John Zorabedian
Thanks for your comment. I’ve edited the article to instead say “preferred gender identity.”
Magyver
Good work John, and fast too. On a side the governor who sponsored the law was concerned about non-transgendered men “choosing’ to become “a man trapped in a transgender body” just long enough to pop into the ladies room to ‘cop a quick look’.
I SHOULD be a minimalist.
Again — not a “preference” — it’s gender identity. No choice, no preference, just acceptance and celebration.
Mahhn
ESPN is run by cowards that want to micromanage their employees when not at work. Next up is bald people suing over not being able to get a hair cut. Any anyone who mocks the stupidity of it will get attacked by a crowd of stupid people that will shave your head, then tell you to get a haircut. The world is INSANE.
Laurence Marks
Uhhh, what, exactly, does this have to do with computer security?
Magyver
Computer security is a broader subject than it used to be, with a broader audience now my friend. This particular news story delves somewhat into the politics of the internet, and politics is joined at the hip with both the Internet computer security whether we like it or not.
Besides, our friends at Sophos do an excellent job in covering news related to the Internet and computers with an unbiased approach. The ‘Yanks’ on this side of the pond also find the sense of humor of their Brit writers particularly refreshing, considering the bias and lack of honesty and integrity of the US alphabet media.
Yes I abso-bloody-lutely encourage Sophos to continue reporting on anything they consider interesting, and Bob’s your uncle! (Lol…)
Steve
Because… FACEBOOK!
Yeah, I don’t get it either. Seems like it’s just a way to support a pet cause. Surprise, it’s not Lisa Vaas this time.
I SHOULD be a minimalist.
Digital reputation was one of the basic tenets of Cyber Security Awareness Month … this is a prime example of believing that something (your twitter comments) are private when in fact they are public and can impact your reputation and that of your employer.
Tim
My thoughts exactly. Why is this posted here?
(fwiw I agree with the premise entirely, but I’m not following this blog for social commentary)
Magyver
Likely because the news story was tagged under “Celebrities, Facebook, Law & order, Social networks”, which have all had prominent roles in computer security issues over the past years.
Will Robinson Voiceworks
I am done with ESPN. Any behavior can be ‘tolerated’ by their standards EXCEPT for Curt Schilling expressing his opinion. The world has gone nuts. Letting a man wearing a dress or a woman wearing a suit use opposite bathrooms of their birthed gender. NO MORE ESPN for me. I just removed them from my TV channel selections. Heck…with this move they just ticked off 80 percent of their audience!
foo
Public restrooms should be labelled PENISES and VAGINAS.
Anonymous
Without wading over to one side or the other on this issue, my only question is this — Just what exactly does Curt Schilling’s Facebook comments have ANYTHING to do with computer security which is what I thought was the main area of expertise of SOPHOS/Naked Security, not writing articles about American social/cultural issues??
Mahhn
Mr Anonymous, it’s that the use social media without anonymity can cost you your job. Which is about intellectual rights using electronic media being diminished.