Skip Bayless’ Hilarious Reaction To Dak Prescott Backlash (Video)
Skip Bayless was the subject of much criticism on Thursday afternoon over his Dak Prescott commentary. Essentially, the Fox Sports host dismissed Prescott and questioned his leadership for admitting that he battled depression.
The idea that Bayless would call out Prescott for matters pertaining to mental health made him a punching bag for just about everyone. Even Fox Sports had to come out with a statement condemning him.
The expectation was that Bayless would emerge from the shadows on Friday and offer a heartfelt, contrite apology.
That didn’t happen.
Bayless appeared on Undisputed Friday same as ever. Rather than apologize to Prescott, he simply doubled down.
“I want to reiterate some points I made about Dak Prescott and the depression he discussed,” he said.
“As I strongly stated, I have great compassion for anyone suffering from clinical depression, which is very real. If you are suffering from any form of depression, please seek help.”
As far as Bayless was concerned, the problem was everyone else – not what he said.
Skip Bayless apologizes to Dak Prescott
I’m sorry …
Skip Bayless does not apologize to Dak Prescott pic.twitter.com/59neOKMJ61
— T̷R̷O̷Y̷ ̷H̷U̷G̷H̷E̷S̷ (@TommySledge) September 11, 2020
“And this is the final point, one I am told was misconstrued by many. The only Dak depression I discussed on the show was from an interview he taped with Graham Bensinger,” Bayless added.
“Dak said that depression hit soon after the pandemic hit, right after the quarantine. I said [Thursday] that if Dak needed help for pandemic depression, he should have sought it then.”
Kobe knew. https://t.co/eTNS3BBHwc
— Game 7 (@game7__) September 11, 2020
On Thursday, Bayless said this of Prescott’s recent mental health admissions: “You are commanding an entire franchise … And they’re all looking to you to be their CEO, to be in charge of the football team.
“Because of all that, I don’t have sympathy for him going public with ‘I got depressed’ and ‘I suffered depression early in COVID to the point that I couldn’t even go work out.’ Look, he’s the quarterback of America’s team.”
Fox Sports, in an effort to quell the backlash, publicly condemned Bayless’ original statement.
“At Fox Sports, we are proud of Dak Prescott for publicly revealing his struggle with depression and mental health,” said the statement.
“No matter the cause of the struggle, Fox Sports believes Dak showed tremendous courage, which is evident in both his leadership on the Dallas Cowboys and in his character off the field.
“We do not agree with Skip Bayless’ opinion on Undisputed this morning. We have addressed the significance of this matter with Skip and how his insensitive comments were received by people internally at Fox Sports and our audience.”
Somehow everyone was pissed. https://t.co/gab6ObPSW6
— Game 7 (@game7__) September 11, 2020
What makes Fox Sports’ statement all the more funny, in hindsight, is that Bayless completely undermined it less than 24 hours later by saying that everyone simply misconstrued what he was trying to say.
There were people on Thursday who legitimately believed that the 68-year-old would lose his job over his comments. “#SkipJobless” was a legitimate and actual hashtag that trended for hours on Twitter, for God’s sake. That is how confident folks were that he would get terminated.
Not only did that not happen – he wasn’t even reprimanded.
That’s why Bayless came out on Friday with zero remorse.
Bayless is who he is for a reason. He gives controversial takes under the cover of networks who want him to give said opinions to generate headlines.
Until that dynamic changes, he has no reason to either.
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A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
