Jason Whitlock is Out as Head of "The Undefeated" Before It Launches
By Jason Lisk
Jason Whitlock did not even make it to the launch date of his website “The Undefeated.” ESPN gave the news to Richard Sandomir of the New York Times minutes before posting the information on ESPN Front Row: Whitlock is out as the head of the website, and will be replaced on an interim basis by Leon Carter. Here’s the statement from Front Row:
"As we continue to move forward in the process of creating The Undefeated – a new ESPN site focusing on race and sports – we have collectively decided to make some structural adjustments that will maximize the skill sets and strengths of our team, leading to the best possible output for the site and for all of ESPN. To that end, Jason Whitlock will now be entirely focused on what he does best: creating distinctive and compelling content, which will live across various ESPN platforms. Jason’s thought-provoking perspective has always been a hallmark of his work and this will allow him to completely devote his time and energy to that. As a result, he will make significant contributions to multiple ESPN entities and programs. Since returning to ESPN, Jason has been instrumental in assembling the foundation of a strong editorial team, formulating the vision for the project and collaborating with our digital product team to develop the blueprint for the site. Leon Carter – an experienced leader in journalism who officially joined the site in January after leading staffs at the New York Daily News and ESPNNewYork.com – will assume all day-to-day management of the site’s editorial processes and personnel on an interim basis."
Whitlock left FOX Sports and returned to ESPN two years ago, ostensibly to start his version of a “Black Grantland.” There were reports of discord–Deadspin had a takedown detailing how Whitlock was poisoning the site before it went public–that appear to be supported by this move.
According to Sandomir, Whitlock will stay on at ESPN as a writer. However, this was hardly the vision when he returned to ESPN to do more.