ESPN fired Curt Schilling from his position as a baseball analyst for the sports network on Wednesday, April 20, a day after he received flak for an anti-transgender meme he posted to Facebook.
The 2001 World Series MVP, who has worked for the cable network since 2010, posted a picture of a man dressed as a woman on Monday, with a caption reading, "LET HIM IN! to the restroom with your daughter or else you’re a narrow-minded, judgmental, unloving racist bigot who needs to die."
Schilling added his own comments to the post, which was later deleted: "A man is a man no matter what they call themselves. I don’t care what they are, who they sleep with, men’s room was designed for the penis, women’s not so much. Now you need laws telling us differently? Pathetic."
ESPN said in a statement released to Us Weekly, "ESPN is an inclusive company. Curt Schilling has been advised that his conduct was unacceptable, and his employment with ESPN has been terminated."
The former Boston Red Sox pitcher, who had recently been appearing on Monday Night Baseball, has yet to comment on social media about the termination. But in a blog entry posted on Tuesday, he called the outcry "beyond hilarious." He added: "I didn’t post that ugly-looking picture. I made a comment about the basic functionality of men's and women's restrooms, period."
Schilling has run afoul with the network previously. In August 2015, ESPN suspended him through the end of the baseball postseason after he posted a Twitter meme comparing Muslim Jihadism to Nazi Germany.