Jason Whitlock, who was hired by ESPN to head up, staff, and create a “Black Grantland,” has now been demoted from his position.
ESPN announced Friday afternoon that Whitlock will no longer be running “The Undefeated.” Instead, Whitlock will be back to his usual role of writing/creating content. Leon Carter, who joined the site in January, will take Whitlock’s place as a manager on an interim basis.
Here is the announcement from ESPN:
As we continue to move forward in the process of creating The Undefeated – a new ESPN site focusing on race and sports – we have collectively decided to make some structural adjustments that will maximize the skill sets and strengths of our team, leading to the best possible output for the site and for all of ESPN. To that end, Jason Whitlock will now be entirely focused on what he does best: creating distinctive and compelling content, which will live across various ESPN platforms. Jason’s thought-provoking perspective has always been a hallmark of his work and this will allow him to completely devote his time and energy to that. As a result, he will make significant contributions to multiple ESPN entities and programs. Since returning to ESPN, Jason has been instrumental in assembling the foundation of a strong editorial team, formulating the vision for the project and collaborating with our digital product team to develop the blueprint for the site.
Leon Carter – an experienced leader in journalism who officially joined the site in January after leading staffs at the New York Daily News and ESPNNewYork.com – will assume all day-to-day management of the site’s editorial processes and personnel on an interim basis.
Whitlock’s demotion is likely the result of multiple complaints that he was unfit for the position. Deadspin’s Greg Howard, who was recruited by Whitlock to work for the site, wrote a piece in late April describing how poor of a manager Whitlock was. Apparently that carried a lot of weight with ESPN management, which decided to make a change.
Whitlock was hired by ESPN in 2013 and still has not gotten the project off the ground. He will go back to writing as well as doing TV and radio for the network.
