Introducing a segment on Wednesday’s NBC Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie announced: “We’re back now at 7:43 with the controversial tweet that has led to a headline-making suspension at ESPN.” Fellow co-host Willie Geist declared: “Former big league ace pitcher and current baseball analyst Curt Schilling has a history of pushing boundaries on social media. But his bosses say this time Schilling went too far.”
Geist described Schilling’s supposed offense: “Early Tuesday, Schilling shared a photo online featuring an image of Hitler that read, ‘It's said only 5 to 10% of Muslims are extremists. In 1940, only 7% of Germans were Nazis. How'd that go?’ The meme drew immediate outrage online, prompting Schilling to delete the tweet soon after.”
Geist added: “His employer, ESPN, quickly yanked Schilling from his current assignment at the Little League World Series, saying in part, ‘Curt's tweet was completely unacceptable and in no way represents our company's perspective.’” He also noted Schilling issuing an apology: “Schilling responded by tweeting, ‘I understand and accept my suspension. 100% my fault. Bad choices have bad consequences and this was a bad decision in every way on my part.’”
As images appeared on screen of Schilling campaigning for Republicans like George W. Bush, John McCain, and Scott Brown, Geist observed: “Online controversy is nothing new to Schilling. He's antagonized some with his outspoken politics.”
Wrapping up the report, Geist remarked: “This is one of the all-time great pitchers. This year he was up for the third time for the hall of fame, was not voted in. He said publically he believes it’s because of his Republican and conservative politics that he's not accepted into the hall of fame.”
Co-host Matt Lauer chimed in: “But he has at least on this time he said, ‘My bad, 100%.’ At least he realizes it.” Geist agreed: “And did so pretty quickly.”
The NBC hosts never explained why comparing “Muslim extremists” like ISIS to the Nazis was “controversial.”
On Tuesday’s NBC Nightly News, chief foreign affairs correspondent Richard Engel provided a disturbing report on ISIS chopping off the hands and feet of children who refused to join the terrorist organization.
ABC’s Good Morning America on Wednesday, anchor Amy Robach offered a news brief on the controversy: “Well, ESPN has suspended Curt Schilling from its Little League World Series broadcast because of a controversial tweet. The former star pitcher compared Muslim extremists to Nazis before deleting the post.”
Like NBC, ABC failed to explain what was offensive about the comparison.
Here is a full transcript of the August 26 report on Today:
7:43 AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: We’re back now at 7:43 with the controversial tweet that has led to a headline-making suspension at ESPN. And Willie’s following it for us. Good morning.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Schilling Suspended After Tweet; Fmr. MLB Star Compares Muslims to Nazi-era Germans]
WILLIE GEIST: Good morning, Savannah. Good morning, guys. Former big league ace pitcher and current baseball analyst Curt Schilling has a history of pushing boundaries on social media. But his bosses say this time Schilling went too far.
Curt Schilling, contrite this morning. Early Tuesday, Schilling shared a photo online featuring an image of Hitler that read, “It's said only 5 to 10% of Muslims are extremists. In 1940, only 7% of Germans were Nazis. How'd that go?” The meme drew immediate outrage online, prompting Schilling to delete the tweet soon after. His employer, ESPN, quickly yanked Schilling from his current assignment at the Little League World Series, saying in part, “Curt's tweet was completely unacceptable and in no way represents our company's perspective. We made that point very strongly to Curt.”
Schilling responded by tweeting, “I understand and accept my suspension. 100% my fault. Bad choices have bad consequences and this was a bad decision in every way on my part.”
Online controversy is nothing new to Schilling. He's antagonized some with his outspoken politics. But earlier this year, drew praise for defending his teenage daughter from online trolls.
CURT SCHILLING: This is my child. You attacked my child. The rules kind of go out the window when you attack family.
GEIST: Despite his mea culpa Tuesday, last October Schilling posted a photo on Facebook with almost identical wording, which he never deleted nor apologized for. He's not commented on that post.
ESPN has not said how long Schilling's suspension will last. This is one of the all-time great pitchers. This year he was up for the third time for the hall of fame, was not voted in. He said publically he believes it’s because of his Republican and conservative politics that he's not accepted into the hall of fame.
LAUER: But he has at least on this time he said, “My bad, 100%.”
GEIST: Yep.
LAUER: At least he realizes it.
GEIST: And did so pretty quickly.
LAUER: Yeah.
GUTHRIE: Willie, thank you so much.
