ESPN personality Mina Kimes sparked a social media feud on Wednesday when she took exception to a post about female sports journalists by Defector reporter Laura Wagner.
The war of words unfolded after Wagner mused about the plight of female sports journalists who "reach the accurate conclusion" that "their success hinges largely on their willingness to play the hot girl who is also one of the guys."
one day i really really will write about the women in sports media who look around and crunch the numbers and reach the accurate conclusion that their success hinges largely on their willingness to play the hot girl who is also one of the guys
— Laura Wagner (@laurawags) March 16, 2022
Kimes seemed to think she was being subtweeted, or perhaps just disagreed with Wagner's hypothesis.
"how about women in sports media who shit on other women over trivial things, for self righteous reasons?" Kimes responded.
Wagner then indicated her tweet wasn't aimed at Kimes, saying "not everything is about you ..."
not everything is about you but thanks for the epic own👍
— Laura Wagner (@laurawags) March 16, 2022
It appeared Wagner was in fact referring to the announcement by DraftKings that it was launching a new podcast featuring former ESPN personality Mike Golic and Meadowlark Media producer Jessica Smetana.
DraftKings' announcement post said the podcast would be "the intersection of sports and pop culture."
"Need some stoplights at this intersection," Wagner joked.
need some stoplights at this intersection
— Laura Wagner (@laurawags) March 16, 2022
Wagner's quip and her separate followup apparently didn't sit well with Kimes and others, including LeBatard Show contributor Kate Fagan.
In the long run, I think the more productive thought here would be: hmmm, let me do some self-examination about why I sent out these bullshit tweets to begin with.
— Kate Fagan (@katefagan3) March 16, 2022
Wagner later retweeted FS1 host Tanya Ray Fox, who explained that Wagner was making a critique of male-dominated sports media rather than the female journalists who must navigate it.




