AOL's FanHouse has decided to suspend its lead columnist, Jay Mariotti. The sports writer's other employer, ESPN, has not taken similar action at this juncture.
Mariotti was arrested in the early morning hours of Saturday August 21 and taken into custody on a charge of felony domestic assault. he was released after posting bail that was set at $50,000. He was in the company of a woman, reported to be his girlfriend with whom he tussled both outside and inside his apartment building in Venice, California.
An AOL spokesman told Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated, "We are continuing to gather all the facts. In the meantime, we have suspended Jay Mariotti and are not featuring any new work from him." His current work is still visible on the FanHouse site and is being savaged by comments taking Mariotti apart for his actions. As of this writing no police report has been made public.
Mariotti Off ESPN TV Next Week
Mariotti's other employer, ESPN has taken no official action but there was a report that he will not be appearing on "Around The Horn" when it comes off hiatus next week. The columnist is a regular panel member and it is assumed that his absence is related to his arrest, although ESPN has not admitted as much.
Josh Krulewitz, an ESPN spokesman told Sportsbybrooks.com about the status of Mariotti at the network: “he (Mariotti) is not scheduled to be on (Around The Horn) next week.” When asked if Mariotti’s absence was related to his arrest in Los Angeles last week, Krulewitz declined comment.
ESPN has shown little tolerance of late for public discourse that it considers offensive, such as Tony Kornheiser's criticism of Hannah Storm's wardrobe choices. He was suspended from his ESPN Radio program after he said that Storm dressed in a way that wasn't professional enough for a television host.
Last year, baseball analyst Steve Phillips was terminated after an accusation of sexual misconduct by a female producer at the network. Since Mariotti's transgressions fall into the domestic abuse arena, unless the facts reported by the Los Angeles Times and an eyewitness are incorrect, it is hard to imagine that Mariotti will survive his predicament.
The Times reported that when the police arrived at the scene of the disturbance, they found cuts and bruises on the writer's female companion. An eyewitness, who is remaining anonymous, reported to a sports website that he observed the fight between the pair and instructed his girlfriend to call the police. His statement and the original story can be found here.
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