Everybody make room. Cancel culture has come for another self-identified victim.
His name is Mike Milbury.
The legendary Bruin and longtime NHL analyst recently opened up to Dan Shaughnessy about his departure from NBC. As one would expect, Milbury vociferously defended himself, and made several compelling points. Yes, it would’ve been ridiculous for NBC to jettison him over just one joke about women distracting NHL players.
“Excuse me, but I’m not going to be canceled,” Milbury told Shaughnessy. “I refuse to be canceled. The only thing that’s going to cancel me is the grim reaper, and I can see him in the distance, but not yet.”
But here’s the problem: Milbury wasn’t fired for one incident, just like NBC didn’t only get rid of Megyn Kelly for her silly defense of blackface.
For years, NBC received backlash for Milbury’s reductive on-air statements: He told Alex Ovechkin to “act like a man;” he called Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin “crack addicts;” he campaigned for teams to stop forward Cory Perry by hurting him in “some painful and permanent way.”
And then there was P.K. Subban. When his head bounced off the ice following a fight with Sidney Crosby, Milbury said Subban “had it coming.”
Last summer alone, Milbury came under fire for four comments. His musings about the NHL Bubble not containing any women to disrupt players’ concentration was his probably his least egregious remark.
But it was the culmination of a long August. To kick off the month, Milbury appeared to question the veracity of Toronto defenseman Jake Muzzin’s injury shortly after a brutal-looking head-first fall. He was carted off the ice in a stretcher shortly thereafter.
“Not a bad idea to stay down and get a whistle, too, by the way,” Milbury said.
Almost immediately, Milbury tried to save himself, saying he wasn’t questioning Muzzin’s integrity — after doing just that.
Now, I believe nobody should be fired for expressing opinions, even stupid ones. That would be crazy, never mind hypocritical.
But everybody answers to a higher power. In Milbury’s case, it was the suits at NBC Sports.
They were probably tired of the never-ending controversies.
When describing the NHL Bubble without fans, Milbury likened the atmosphere to a women’s college hockey game. Then in mid-August, Milbury put his proverbial shoe in his mouth again. He lambasted Tuukka Rask for leaving the Bubble.
The Bruins’ goalie said he left to care for his family.
“Nobody (has) simply opted to leave the bubble just because they didn’t want to be here and they needed to be with their family,” he said. “I would’ve not have done it, the rest of the league’s players have not done it.”
Once again, Milbury’s commentary sparked an uproar. Five days later, he talked about the distracting women. His quip was clipped and viewed millions of times.
That was the end.
“Now I get it, everybody else has other ways to party, but that’s my experience and I stand by it,” Milbury told Shaughnessy. “It’s biology, for [goodness] sake. So sometimes their lust for companionship was a distraction. So I didn’t think there was anything wrong with the comment, but apparently it was to other people. And I got dismissed from my job.”
Once again, Milbury is blaming one joke for his departure, when it was just the latest line on his resume. For years, NBC stuck by Milbury. But after a decade of unneeded controversy, NBC decided it was enough.
Now Milbury, 69, is free to complain to the Globe from his house on Cape Cod.
As far as cancellations go, that doesn’t sound so bad.
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Maria Taylor wins in the end: Maria Taylor is on the ground in Tokyo for NBC immediately following her departure from ESPN.
You do the math.
Just three weeks ago, Taylor was at the center of maybe the biggest sports media story of the year. On July 4, the New York Times published the contents of a private phone conversation Rachel Nichols had last year, in which she complained about Taylor being named the host of “NBA Countdown.”
The longtime ESPN anchor insinuated Taylor’s promotion was a diversity initiative.
The story prompted widespread backlash and prompted ESPN to remove Nichols from this year’s NBA Finals coverage. Taylor remained as host of “Countdown.”
Interestingly enough, the story was kept in-house for an entire year, until this month — when Taylor’s contract was also expiring. She reportedly turned down a deal from ESPN that would’ve paid her between $2 million and $3 million annually.
At NBC, Taylor, 34, will presumably make more than that. In addition to hosting Olympics coverage, she could be the host in-waiting for “Football Night in America.” Mike Tirico is expected to move into the “Sunday Night Football” play-by-play gig in 2022.
Not a bad deal, huh?
“So thankful to Jimmy (Pitaro) and all of my great teammates and friends at the SEC Network, College GameDay, Women’s and Men’s college basketball, and the NBA Countdown family,” Taylor said in a statement. “The people who believed in me, encouraged me, pushed me, and lifted me up. Words are inadequate to express my boundless appreciation, and I hope to make them proud.”
Seriously, Deion?: Sorry, but Deion Sanders lost me when he lost it on a reporter for addressing him by his name this week. The slight prompted Sanders to abruptly end his online session during the SWAC’s Media Day.
“You don’t call Nick Saban, ‘Nick.’ Don’t call me Deion,” Sanders said,” per the Washington Post. “If you call Nick ‘Nick,’ you know you’ll get cursed out on the spot, so don’t do that to me. Treat me like Nick.”
The reporter then addressed him again as “Deion,” which led Sanders to leave the podium … with a smirk on his face.
Sanders tweeted out the clip complete with the end track, “Walk It Out.”
Marketing ploy or not, this was a cheesy move from Sanders. Reporters shouldn’t feel obligated to call grown men or women “coach.” That’s just silly.
By the way, Nick Saban was called “Nick” eight times during last year’s SEC Media Day.
ESPN’s A-Rod problem: The Red Sox and Yankees won’t be featured this week on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball.” That means we’ll be saved from A-Rod’s inanity.
At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, it’s hard to think of a worse national analyst than A-Rod right now. He’s neither insight nor entertaining, which is incredible, considering he’s one of the greatest players of all-time.
Surely, he must have more to offer than banalities. But he’s either unwilling to share, or that’s just not the case.