Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 95% certainty 4/5 debate potential 3/5

Simmons: ESPN canceled scheduled 2008 Obama interview over political bias concerns

Bill Simmons · The Ringer: Bill Simmons · Feb 13, 2023 · at 42:04

Bill Simmons describes internal friction at ESPN in 2008 after network executives squashed an interview with then-presidential candidate Barack Obama for Simmons's podcast.

0:00 / 0:16exact quote · 17.0s
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“ESPN squashed it, and they squashed it for reasons that... I didn't fully understand. ESPN was very worried about... Bias, or... Seeming like they were biased one way or the other, with Democrats, Republicans, whatever it was. And they were just like, well, you'd have to have equal time with the Republican thing”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

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