Over a week later, Dan Le Batard's minion Mike Ryan is still throwing a tantrum because Josh Pate interviewed President Donald Trump. Now, he's upset with OutKick.
But first, a recap.
Pate, arguably the most influential college football voice on the internet, announced last week that he would interview Trump about sports. Ryan responded with various stages of anger and sadness, accusing Pate of "platforming" the president.
"When you have shows like this, you are further normalizing something that is not normal … when you give Donald Trump a platform, he is going to seize the opportunity to espouse lies, election denial, and do whatever he can. And most of these shows are not equipped to hold him accountable," Ryan said on the Le Batard Show.
We responded with a few points of disagreement. For one, Trump is the President of the United States. You can't "platform" the president.
Second, it's not political to interview a sitting president on the surface. Presidents have long participated in friendly and lighthearted interviews outside traditional political settings. Barack Obama appeared on ESPN's "PTI" multiple times to discuss basketball. It only becomes political if the conversation turns to politics. Pate and Trump never did.
That said, if members of the Le Batard Show truly believe sports hosts have a moral obligation to challenge political figures, they had a chance to do so when they interviewed Kamala Harris' husband Doug Emhoff during her campaign.
For context, Le Batard was the first to interview Emhoff after a viral story in which his ex-girlfriend accused him of "slapping" her in the face. However, Le Batard never asked about or mentioned the report. Instead, he opened the conversation by asking Emhoff what "love" meant to him.
Anyway, Ryan called Pate's interview "embarrassing."
But he isn't just bothered by Pate. He's also triggered by me. Earlier this week, Ryan sent me the following post on X:
"How many of Trump’s allegations did Clay cover on Air Force One? Given how much you care about Doug’s ex-girlfriend, I assume that at least 28 different women that have come forward about the president surely keep you up at night."
As always, I'm happy to respond. Granted, this one is easy.
Ryan is attempting a "gotcha." But his reference to Clay is irrelevant to my argument. I defended sports hosts interviewing Trump, Obama, and others.
However, by criticizing Clay's interview, Ryan doubled down on his claim that sports hosts must press political figures with tough questions. That statement only makes the interview with Emhoff look worse.
Further, Trump had addressed the allegations against him for years before Clay interviewed him on Air Force One. It would not have been timely or particularly meaningful to rehash them in that setting. By contrast, as we mentioned above, the Le Batard Show was the first to speak to Emhoff after the allegations against him surfaced.
Still, I'm glad to hear from Mike Ryan. I have a history with this group and have wanted to address it publicly, if nothing else for giggles.
I've criticized Le Batard and his crew many times. They have criticized me on-air, with claims that I am racist, sexist, wear a KKK hood, want to hold women in media back, and am hateful.
Got all that?
And while I disagree with those labels, it's hard for me to address them because the show never provided any examples of me acting as such.
I actually intended to ask for any examples in an interview I agreed to do with Le Batard. Ahead of the Super Bowl in 2024, his publicist emailed to ask if I would participate in a "phone interview with Dan Le Batard." I agreed and replied, "Hi. Yes, I would be happy to interview Dan next week. Please let us know some times that work for him."
A few days later, the publicist responded:
"Hi Bobby,
"Sorry for the delay, there seems to have been a scheduling miscommunication and Dan is unfortunately unavailable. We apologize for the inconvenience."
I asked to reschedule. I never received a reply.
Of course, there was no scheduling miscommunication. After I agreed to appear, Le Batard ranted about how UFC president Dana White and other men in sports accused of hitting women should face harsher punishment. I had no issue with that stance. But I questioned how he could say that while employing Howard Bryant, who police arrested for allegedly choking and beating his wife in public.
Soon after, we ran into a "scheduling miscommunication."
Nonetheless, I remain open to discussing any of this. Maybe I'm missing something. Maybe there is a coherent explanation for why the Le Batard Show can conduct softball political interviews and employ someone accused of domestic violence while condemning others for less. If so, I'm willing to hear it.
That said, after this column runs, I doubt the Le Batard crew will be eager to engage with me for a while.
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