ESPN commentator, former MLB pitcher, and right-wing bigot extraordinaire Curt Schilling once again uses his Facebook page to spew out insults, this time directed at the trans community to support North Carolina’s odious HB2 and other similar bills coming through the pipelines with a highly offensive transphobic meme.
The former Red Sox righthander, who was suspended by ESPN last summer after he tweeted a meme comparing Muslims to Nazis, posted — and then apparently deleted — a meme on Facebook Tuesday that assailed the transgender community’s opposition to a controversial North Carolina law mandating that people in public buildings use the bathroom that matches the sex listed on their birth certificates.
Schilling’s post, which has since been scrubbed from Facebook, showed a heavy-set man wearing a garter belt and stockings, with the caption: “LET HIM IN! To the restroom with your daughter or else you’re a narrow minded, judgmental, unloving, racist bigot who needs to DIE!!!” Below, Schilling added a comment of his own: “A man is a man no matter what they call themselves. I don’t care what they are, who they sleep with, men’s room was designed for the penis, women’s not so much. Now you need laws telling us differently? Pathetic.”
Maybe making the matter even worse, one of ESPN's MLB editors is a trans woman: Christina Kahrl. How does the company tell Kahrl anything but, "We reject this message and this man"?
Schilling has become known for acting like a total jerk on social media, trolling Muslims on a regular basis.
ESPN has been very out-front on LGBT issues and incredibly supportive over the years. While there can certainly be some respectful disagreement on issues, Schilling leaves no room for that here. I cannot imagine a firing (or at least a very lengthy suspension) by ESPN isn't in Schilling's very near future.
Craig Calcaterra at MLB.NBCSports.com:
This has got to be the final straw, right? Curt Schilling, ESPN’s baseball analyst who has been in trouble multiple times for his social media posts and comments, has once again stepped in it. Indeed, this may be his worst one yet.
It was a meme he shared on Facebook and under which he commented dealing with the issue of access to public facilities for transgender people and it contains a disgusting caricature of what, apparently, Schilling believes to be a transgender person.
While many may feel that way, such sentiments are wholly ignorant of transgender people and their nature (note: they are people who just have to go to the bathroom sometimes like everyone else) and perpetuates stereotypes of a much-maligned class of people. There is an entire b.s. perpetuation machine backing these sorts of sentiments, by the way, smearing transgender people as deviants or threats when, in fact, there are no documented cases of people exploiting transgender non-discrimination laws to commit crimes. Of course, given Schilling’s track record, it is not necessarily surprising that he’s willing to buy into false claims and hyperbole which support his general disposition.
Ted Berg at USA Today’s For The Win:
With debate raging over a controversial and sweeping anti-LGBT law in North Carolina, who would have guessed that MLB pitcher turned ESPN personality Curt Schilling would weigh in? You? Well, you’re right.
Schilling got suspended by ESPN in August for tweeting — then swiftly deleting — an image that vaguely compared Muslims to Nazis, then kept at it during his suspension.
MLBDailyDish.com makes the case for Schilling: ESPN should fire him ASAP!
This is it.
It's been a long time coming, but Curt Schilling has finally accomplished his goal. For months, maybe years, Curt Schilling has been looking for a way to get ESPN to fire him and allow himself to play the victim. He's finally done it.
[...]
Now, I don't expect Schilling to be out of work for long. For one thing, he will almost certainly quickly become a commentator on Fox News and Fox Sports One. He will go on Fox and Friends and talk about how he was wronged, and how his first amendment rights were being trampled. He'll be the darling of Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter and Sarah Palin. He'll still have his supporters, and may even someday run for office (good luck with that; maybe move to Arizona). But even if he does struggle, doesn't he deserve to?
[...]
Oh sure, he's lost money. But he's still on TV. He hasn't lost his home. Curt Schilling has received second chance after second chance. It's long past time for him to suffer some actual consequences. And those consequences should start with ESPN throwing this sentient pussbag who has never had to learn to respect people who are different from him as human beings out on his fat, bigoted ass. He is quite literally begging to be fired. Grant his wish, ESPN. Even if it doesn't change him, your broadcasts and our lives will all be better for it.
If he is fired, expect him to run to every right-wing media outfit to claim that “I am being persecuted for being a conservative” or something similar along those lines, and very likely get hired to be a commentator at Faux Noise/FS1 (home to concern troll DINO Clay Travis) or at TheBlaze or some other conservative outlet.
Screenshot of Curt Schilling’s vile transphobic post (now removed as of 3:30PM CDT):
Yet another of Schilling’s anti-trans ignorance and hatefulness:
Yet still more of the same shit:
Although not related to trans rights, Schilling defends criminal David Daleiden:
This is even more proof that ESPN needs to fire Schilling from its airwaves ASAP. #FireCurtSchilling