TELL ’EM

Bill Simmons Slams ESPN: ‘It Was F**king Sh*tty’

Dishes on his ugly exit from network.

In an extended profile with The Hollywood Reporter, former Grantland chief and ESPN columnist Bill Simmons dished on his ugly exit last year from the sports network. “It was fucking shitty,” he said of first hearing about his firing via Twitter. “By the way they handled it, you would think I played grab-ass with some makeup assistant or something,” he added. Simmons was let go from ESPN after he made a series of jokey remarks attacking NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s lack of “testicular fortitude” on the Deflategate controversy and mishandling of the Ray Rice domestic-violence scandal.

“My apologies for being a jackass,” Simmons later wrote in a statement. He then listed colleagues—both on- and off-air—from ESPN whom he believes positively shaped his career. “They mean a lot to me and still do. So today made me feel bad.”