Former Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark said an unnamed ESPN executive forced his departure despite support from colleagues. He made the comments during Friday's episode of his Pivot podcast after being let go earlier in the week.
Clark described the decision as the work of a small group acting without broader input. “This was a dictatorship. A person, or group of persons, very small group, they didn’t poll the majority,” he said.
He linked the move to past remarks about Kyren Lacy and Angel Reese. Clark said he had been required to apologize for comments on Lacy last September.
The network informed him of the change during a commercial break on Monday’s NFL Live. ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro cited the NFL Network acquisition in a memo to staff about the broader layoffs.
Other analysts let go this week include Tom Pelissero, Karl Ravech, Cam Newton and Bart Scott. Clark plans to continue his Pivot podcast.