ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has NSFW Woj-bomb for U.S. Senator

Senator Josh Hawley penned a letter to the NBA criticizing their public stances on China and police reform. He got a surprise response from Adrian Wojnarowski. 

While the NBA may not actually be as progressive as its public positions would indicate, their support for the Black Lives Matter movement and close ties with China are anathema to many on the conservative end of the political spectrum.

Today Sentator Josh Hawley, of Missouri, sent a letter to NBA commissioner Adam Silver calling out the league’s positions in both areas. Hawley then tweeted out a very NSFW response he got from Adrian Wojnarowski, the face of ESPN’s NBA coverage.

Ben Strauss, a sports and media reporter for The Washington Post spoke with an ESPN spokesperson who seemed to confirm that Woj’s response was real.

UPDATE: Woj issued an apology for his comments and ESPN has responded as well.

It’s unclear if Woj’s email to Hawley came was sent unsolicited, or if he received a press release from Hawley’s office about the letter and was responding to that. Either way, it’s sure to be a controversial response — for the tone, the substance and because it’s coming from the most recognizable face in the NBA’s biggest media partner. Wojnarowski doesn’t actually work for the NBA but his close relationship with the league is clear.

ESPN has publicly reprimanded employees in the past for controversial public statements, most notable Jemele Hill who served a short suspension in 2017 after calling President Trump a white supremacist and then calling for people to boycott advertisers after Jerry Jones threatened to bench players who would “do anything disrespectful to the flag.”

ESPN is reportedly investigating Woj’s comments and we’ll see if there are any consequences. In the meantime, all due respect to Senator Hawley’s efforts, I would not expect the league to be changing their positions on racial justice movements or on the way they do business with China.