ESPN nearly got away with this attempt to take former host Will Cain out of context in a 2019 “First Take” segment on the gender pay gap.
During the 2023 ESPY Awards on Wednesday, the company presented the U.S. women’s soccer team with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award for its “equal pay” dispute to be compensated in accordance with the men’s team
During that presentation ESPN ran a clip of Will Cain – now a Fox News host – from 2019.
“I think equal pay is a ridiculous concept in and of itself,” Cain said. “Soccer, for better or worse, on the men’s side, across this globe is much more popular than women’s.”
Greg Price, the communications director for the State Freedom Caucus Network, noticed the clip.
“ESPN just smeared @willcain as a sexist at the ESPYs,” Price tweeted.
“When airing a video honoring the U.S. women’s soccer team for their equal pay lawsuit, they included out of context remarks from an ESPN segment he did four years ago. They didn’t include his full remarks because he completely destroyed their entire argument.”
In the broader “First Take” segment that Price included in the clip, Cain said that men’s soccer players are paid more in bonus pools than women at the World Cup because the men’s tournament generates $6 billion in revenue.
In contrast, the women’s tournament generated $131 million.
When Cain spoke about equal pay being a “ridiculous concept in and of itself,” he added, “If the women generate more revenue, they should get paid more than the men. Don’t strive for getting the same, strive for getting what you’re worth, and if you’re worth more, then get more.”
In editing the clip, ESPN cut that line out in between what Cain said about the “ridiculous concept” and men’s soccer being more popular globally than women’s soccer.
“It’s still true,” Cain responded to Price’s tweet. “Still unpopular. Full context. Full truth.”