ESPN Compares Redskins Name to Slavery, Opposing Jackie Robinson

‘You wonder what the polling back in the day would have been on the Emancipation Proclamation or letting that Robinson guy play with the Dodgers back in ‘47’

Hyperbolic ESPN Compares Redskin Name to Slavery and Opposing Jackie Robinson (NewsBusters)

Leaving no over-the-top comparison unused, ESPN's Bob Ley on Tuesday denounced the Washington Redskins name. Outside the Lines devoted an entire hour to a new poll showing overwhelming support for keeping the nickname. Unhappy with the result, Ley compared the word "Redskin" to slavery, Watergate and opposition to Jackie Robinson's entry into Major League Baseball.

After a discussion of how 71 percent of Americans don't want the team altered, the anchor fumed, "But you wonder what the polling back in the day would have been on the Emancipation Proclamation or letting that Robinson guy play with the Dodgers back in '47." After admitting that the controversy is a "media creation," Ley compared, "But so was Watergate when it first started...And 40 years after Richard Nixon left town with his playbook, nobody has a problem with the media's role." 

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