ESPN Fires Curt Schilling Amid Dustup Over Anti-Transgender Memes

FILE - In this Wednesday, May 16, 2012, file photo, former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, center, is followed by members of the media as he departs the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation headquarte... FILE - In this Wednesday, May 16, 2012, file photo, former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, center, is followed by members of the media as he departs the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation headquarters, in Providence, R.I. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, March 7, 2016, charged Rhode Island's economic development agency and Wells Fargo with defrauding investors in the state's disastrous $75 million deal with 38 Studios, the failed video game company started by the former Red Sox pitcher. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File) MORE LESS
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ESPN announced Wednesday night that it was firing former World Series champion Curt Schilling from his role as a baseball analyst after he posted several anti-transgender memes to his public Facebook profile.

“ESPN is an inclusive company,” ESPN said in a statement. “Curt Schilling has been advised that his conduct was unacceptable and his employment with ESPN has been terminated.”

The memes Schilling posted on Monday appeared to support a recent spate of legislation in various states requiring transgender people to use bathrooms that correspond with their birth sex. After facing intensive criticism online, Schilling doubled down in a lengthy public blog post calling his detractors people “just dying to be offended.”

After taking a day to assess the impact of his posts, ESPN dismissed Schilling.

Schilling has got the network in hot water before. After sharing a meme comparing Muslims to Nazis last August, he was suspended from hosting duties for the duration of the rest of the baseball season. Back on air in February, he received no reprimand for suggesting that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton “should be buried under a jail somewhere.”

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