Jason Lee Whitlock (born April 27, 1967) is an American sports journalist, columnist, and podcaster. He hosts a program for the media company

Blaze Media Blaze Media is an American conservative media company. It was founded in 2018 as a result of a merger between TheBlaze and CRTV LLC. The company's leadership consists of Chief executive officer, CEO Tyler Cardon and president Gaston Mooney. It ...

, where he hosts the show ''Fearless with Jason Whitlock''. Whitlock is a former columnist at ''

The Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and as ...

'', AOL Sports, Foxsports.com, and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. He was a radio personality for

WHB WHB (810 AM) is a commercial radio station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. The station is owned by Union Broadcasting and it airs an all-sports radio format. For most of the 1950s through the 1970s, while it was broadcasting at 710 AM, ...

and KCSP sports stations in the

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

area. Whitlock played Division I

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Ball State Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers and Indianapolis. On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, industrialists and founders of the Ball C ...

as an

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

. In addition to sports, he has written about political and societal issues.

Journalism career

Early career

Whitlock's first job was working part-time for ''

The Herald-Times ''The Herald-Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Bloomington, Indiana and surrounding areas. The newspaper won the Blue Ribbon Daily award in 1975, 1984 2007, and 2014, naming it the best daily newspaper in the state of Indiana in those years. ...

'' in

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County, Indiana, Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the List of municipalities in Indiana, seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside ...

. His first full-time job was as a reporter for ''

The Charlotte Observer ''The Charlotte Observer'' is an American English-language newspaper serving Charlotte, North Carolina, and its metro area. The Observer was founded in 1886. As of 2020, it has the second-largest circulation of any newspaper in the Carolinas. I ...

''. After approximately one year there, he joined ''

The Ann Arbor News ''The Ann Arbor News'' is a newspaper serving Washtenaw and Livingston counties in Michigan. Published daily online through MLive.com, the paper also publishes print editions on Thursdays and Sundays. History Original publication Published in An ...

'' in 1992 and spent two years covering the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Kansas City Star

In 1994, Whitlock was hired by ''

''. In 1998, Whitlock was suspended for heckling fans at a

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

game. The

Scripps Howard Foundation The Scripps Howard Fund is a public charity that supports philanthropic causes important to the E. W. Scripps Company, an American media conglomerate which owns television stations, cable television networks, and other media outlets. The goal of t ...

awarded Whitlock its National Journalism Award for commentary on March 7, 2008. Whitlock was the first sportswriter to win the award and $10,000 prize. On August 16, 2010, the ''Kansas City Star'' announced Whitlock's departure from that paper.

ESPN

In 2002, Whitlock started writing columns for ESPN.com's

Page 2 ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including: ...

. Whitlock had guest-hosted several ESPN TV shows, including ''

Jim Rome Is Burning ''Jim Rome Is Burning'' (originally titled ''Rome Is Burning'' and often abbreviated as ''JRIB'') is a sports conversation and opinion show hosted by Jim Rome. Debuting on May 6, 2003, as ''Rome Is Burning'', it was originally a weekly show in pri ...

'', and '' Pardon the Interruption''. He was a regular fill-in host on ''

The Jim Rome Show ''The Jim Rome Show'' is a sports radio talk show hosted by Jim Rome. It airs live for three hours each weekday from 9 a.m. to noon Pacific Time. The show is produced in Los Angeles, syndicated by CBS Sports Radio, and can be heard on affilia ...

'' on

Premiere Radio Networks Premiere Networks (formerly Premiere Radio Networks, shortened as PRN) is an American media company, a wholly owned subsidiary of iHeartMedia, for which it currently serves as its main original radio content distribution and production arm. It ...

. He also appeared regularly on ESPN's ''

The Sports Reporters ''The Sports Reporters'' was a sports talk show that aired on ESPN at 9:30 a.m. ET every Sunday morning (and replayed at 10:30 a.m. ET the same day on ESPN2 and 11:30 AM on ESPNews). It featured a roundtable discussion among four sports ...

''.

Leaving ESPN for AOL Sports

In 2006, Whitlock announced the departure of his online column from ESPN.com's Page 2 in favor of AOL Sports, but initially expected to continue his television work for ESPN. However, after the announcement, Whitlock was interviewed by sports blo
The Big Lead
and disparaged two of his ESPN colleagues. Whitlock labeled

Mike Lupica Michael Lupica (; born May 11, 1952) is an author and former American newspaper columnist, best known for his provocative commentary on sports in the ''New York Daily News'' and his appearances on ESPN. Biography Lupica was born in Oneida, ...

"an insecure, mean-spirited busybody", and called Robert "Scoop" Jackson a "clown", saying that "the publishing of Jackson's fake ghetto posturing is an insult to black intelligence." Jackson, like Whitlock, is

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

. Whitlock then disappeared from all ESPN television work. He soon announced to ''The Kansas City Star'' readers in September 2006 that he was fired altogether from ESPN as a result of his remarks; he wrote that the company doesn't tolerate criticism and acted as they saw fit. Whitlock's first AOL Sports column was published September 29, 2006.

Fox Sports

Whitlock's first Fox Sports on MSN column was published August 16, 2007. On February 10, 2012, in the middle of the Knicks' 92–85 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, with

Jeremy Lin Jeremy Shu-How Lin (born August 23, 1988) is a Taiwanese-American professional basketball player who last played for the Guangzhou Loong Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He unexpectedly led a winning turnaround with the Ne ...

scoring a career-high 38 points, Whitlock posted on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

, stating that "some lucky lady in NYC is gonna feel a couple inches of pain tonight." Silvie Kim wrote in ''

Hyphen The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation. ''Son-in-law'' is an example of a hyphenated word. The hyphen is sometimes confused with dashes (figure d ...

'' that Whitlock "reinforced the insipid and insidious 'small Asian penis' stereotype. The Asian American Journalists Association demanded an apology. Later, Whitlock said, "I debased a feel-good sports moment. For that, I'm truly sorry."

Return to ESPN

Whitlock originally expected to be an integral part of the launching of the

Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports 2 ...

sports television channel in August 2013, but then came to feel that television work would come at the expense of his writing. Therefore, upon meeting with ESPN President

John Skipper John Skipper is an American television executive, former executive chairman of DAZN Group, and former president of ESPN. Career Education and early career Skipper attended Lexington Senior High School in Lexington, North Carolina. He the ...

, Whitlock decided to leave Fox Sports and accept Skipper's offer to return to ESPN. His new website ' The Undefeated.com' was scheduled to launch on ESPN.com sometime in the summer of 2015. After over a year and a half of delays, ESPN announced that Whitlock would no longer serve as the editor in chief for 'The Undefeated', replaced on an interim basis by Leon Carter, the editorial director for the site. In October 2015, Whitlock's employment at ESPN ended.

Return to Fox

In 2016, Whitlock began a new show airing on

, ''

Speak for Yourself ''Speak for Yourself'' is the second solo album by British singer Imogen Heap, following her collaborative effort with Guy Sigsworth as Frou Frou. The album was released in the United States in 2005. It was written, produced, arranged, and fu ...

with Cowherd and Whitlock''. Cowherd was replaced by former

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

defensive end

Marcellus Wiley Marcellus Vernon Wiley Sr. (born November 30, 1974) is an American sportscaster and former American football defensive end who played 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the Buffalo Bills, San Diego Chargers, Dallas Co ...

in 2018, and the show was rebranded as ''Speak for Yourself with Whitlock and Wiley''. On June 1, 2020, it was announced that Fox would not renew Whitlock's contract after the two sides couldn't come to an agreement.

OutKick

In June 2020, Jason Whitlock officially partnered alongside

Clay Travis Richard Clay Travis (born April 6, 1979) is an American writer, lawyer, radio host and television analyst. As a sports journalist, Travis founded ''OutKick''. As a political commentator, he and Buck Sexton host ''The Clay Travis and Buck Sexto ...

at OutKick. In January 2021, Travis announced Whitlock's departure. Whitlock's immediate response was a tweet: "Do not believe anything written or said about me unless I say it. All else is Fake News." A month later, he gave an interview to Front Office Sports in which he said, in part, "It was a bad business deal, a byproduct of my failure to properly vet my business partners."

Blaze Media

In June 2021, Whitlock joined

and started a new show, ''Fearless with Jason Whitlock''. In an interview with

Tucker Carlson Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson (born May 16, 1969) is an American television host, conservative political commentator and writer who has hosted the nightly political talk show ''Tucker Carlson Tonight'' on Fox News since 2016. Carlson began h ...

, Whitlock stated that "a lot of what the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

supports is Satanic". In October 2022, Whitlock defended

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

from accusations of

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

, stating that "secular black and secular

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

elites are committing blasphemy, claiming an allegiance to a religious heritage they don’t support or respect." Whitlock suggested that West was being criticized for his

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

faith. Whitlock derided a

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

report that West had privately praised

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

, stating that the report had "no evidence." Whitlock's comments defending West were made before West declared his admiration for Hitler and

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

in an Infowars interview on December 1, 2022. Deadspin journalist Eric Blum criticized Whitlock's support for West, accusing him of antisemitism and "spewing blind hate against Jewish people". Whitlock denied Blum's charges, saying "I did no such thing."

Other work

Whitlock has also been published in ''

Vibe ''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down productio ...

'', ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

'', and ''

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

''. In the June 2008 issue of ''Playboy'', he wrote a 5,000-word column questioning America's

incarceration Imprisonment is the restraint of a person's liberty, for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is "false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessari ...

and drug-war policies. ''Playboy'' headlined the column "The Black KKK", which provoked Whitlock into writing two columns, one in the ''Kansas City Star'' and another on Foxsports.com, criticizing ''Playboy'' editorial director Chris Napolitano for the misleading and inflammatory headline.

References

External links

National Journalism Award Winners 2008In KC, it's no time for a game
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitlock, Jason 1967 births Living people African-American writers Writers from Indianapolis American sports radio personalities American sportswriters American podcasters Ball State Cardinals football players Ball State University alumni Blaze Media people Commentary YouTubers People from Overland Park, Kansas The Kansas City Star people ESPN people Writers from Los Angeles Players of American football from Indianapolis Writers from Kansas City, Missouri Radio personalities from Kansas City, Missouri Radio personalities from Los Angeles Fox Sports 1 people American male YouTubers American YouTubers News YouTubers American sports journalists African-American sports journalists 21st-century American journalists YouTube podcasters