Bill Simmons Fires Back After New York Times Racism Story
Bill Simmons fired back at a recent New York Times story that suggested The Ringer mishandled race issues. Specifically, the article pointed to a lack of hiring of minorities and a general lack of interest in issues pertaining to race.
“We know we didn’t do well enough, and I wish it had been a bigger priority for us to really make a bigger commitment to diversity than we did,” he said during his most recent podcast.
“I think, in the moment, you’re looking at stuff where you pursue certain people. It doesn’t work out. You feel like you’re trying. And I think the moment that the country’s having in general these last four weeks is like if you feel like you’re trying, that’s actually not good enough.”
As a result, Simmons pledged to do better.
“We’re gonna do better, and the only thing I’m gonna say on that is if you know anything about me and how committed I am to all this stuff — to using my platform to try to raise the profile and platform of other people and stuff — this what I tried to do at Grantland and what I’m trying to do at The Ringer.
“There’s a lot of responsibility that comes with that and when you fall short in some way, which I feel like I did, and I feel like we did — meaning [editors] Chris [Ryan], Sean [Fennessey], Mallory [Rubin], Juliet [Litman], and [CEO] Geoff [Chow] — it hurts, but there’s truth to it.”
It will be interesting to see if Simmons ultimately stands by what he has promised to do.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
