Up till June, listeners to ESPN radio might tune in weekday mornings and listen to professional sports activities evaluation from the present Keyshawn, JWill & Max. Sadly, that wasn’t well-liked sufficient to outlive a large spherical of layoffs by dad or mum firm Disney.
There’s one other wrinkle right here: earlier than the layoffs even occur, two of the three hosts had been fired from the community, however we’ll get to that in a second.
What was the ‘Keyshawn, JWill, and Max?’ present?
The present was hosted by former NFL star Keyshawn Johnson, former NBA participant Jay Williams, and TV host Max Kellerman. It coated the sports activities information of the day with each opinion and evaluation. On paper, it appeared like a match made in heaven.
It didn’t damage that they’d greater than 1,000,000 followers on Twitter. Nonetheless, the community needed one thing new, and the scores weren’t mind-blowing, and ESPN New York changed it with the DiPietro & Rothenberg morning present.
What occurred to ‘Keyshawn, JWill, and Max?’
The present was cancelled in June, just a few weeks earlier than Keyshawn and Max had been fired. The dismissals had been part of Disney’s three rounds of layoffs, the place greater than 20 high reporters and analysts had been let go.
Initially, these layoffs weren’t presupposed to have an effect on on-air personalities, which clearly turned out to be unfaithful. The total variety of layoffs wanted was 7,000. That’s numerous sports activities folks.
Kellerman was a scorching property on the firm. He was an integral a part of First Take till Stephen A. Smith determined to vary up the format of the present. Kellerman bought his personal present This Simply In, in addition to being teamed up with Johnson and Williams.
Sadly, neither might get the eye wanted to warrant not being cancelled. Regardless of being fired by the corporate, Johnson nonetheless will get the $18 million he was promised as per his contract.
An inside memo by ESPN, reported by the New York Submit, supplied some perception into the firing rationale.
“To be able to determine further price financial savings, ESPN decided it essential to show the associated fee administration focus to public-facing commentator salaries, and that course of has begun. This train will embody a small group of job cuts within the short-term and an ongoing concentrate on managing prices after we negotiate particular person contract renewals within the months forward.”
The memo went on to say that “these are troublesome selections” that can have an effect on “people who’ve an amazing impression on our firm.”
Contemplating the quantity of their salaries, they’re doing simply wonderful.