ESPN.com has dumped contributor Paul Shirley following an article he wrote arguing against donating to the Haiti relief effort.
In an article published Tuesday on the website flipcollective.com, Shirley bragged that he had not “donated a cent to the Haitian relief effort,” and “probably will not” — likening Haitians to homeless men on the street and questioning whether “much of the responsibility for the disaster [should] lie with the victims” of the disaster.
“Dear Haitians ? First of all, kudos on developing the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Your commitment to human rights, infrastructure, and birth control should be applauded. As we prepare to assist you in this difficult time, a polite request: If it?s possible, could you not re-build your island home in the image of its predecessor? Could you not resort to the creation of flimsy shanty- and shack-towns? And could some of you maybe use a condom once in a while? Sincerely, The Rest of the World.”
— Paul Shirley
In a statement released Wednesday, ESPN announced that Shirley will “no longer contribute” to ESPN.com, and that the “views he expressed on another site of course do not at all reflect our company’s views on the Haiti relief efforts.”
Shirley, who played briefly in the NBA, had been an ESPN contributor since 2005.
(ESPN, flipcollective.com)
