UPDATE 2:24 P.M.:
Greg Howard wrote a response to Jason Whitlock’s Tumblr entry on his Deadspin sub-section (it hasn’t, as of about 2:30 p.m. Thursday, been published on the main Deadspin site).
Howard doesn’t concern himself with Whitlock’s main claim — that he made up a story about him — and says Whitlock’s second claim — that Howard allowed two Deadspin editors to insert the N-word into a critique of Whitlock — shows a lack of understanding on Whitlock’s part about how journalism works.
This graf pretty much sums up the rest of Howard’s response:
Over the last year and a half of reporting on you and The Undefeated, I’ve spent days and days trying to get a better sense of who you are, and I’ve found that despite your bravado, you are a lonely, sad figure. You’re pitiable, and yet no one pities you, because in an attempt to match your life to your self-delusion, you hurt people. You say you are the king, and try to reach your station by stepping on people close to you, people you think are less than you. You’re sexist and racist, and even worse, you’re a bully who took pleasure in terrorizing people unfortunate enough to have faith in you, like The Undefeated executive editor Amy DuBois Barnett, and your writer Jerry Bembry, and your one-time secretary and close friend, Erin Buker. If events were just a little different, I would’ve been right there with them. That’s why you failed. That’s why you are at Fox Sports.ORIGINAL POST:
Jason Whitlock’s ground offensive against Deadspin entered its second day Thursday, with Whitlock penning an “Explanation 2.0” post on his Tumblr that accuses Deadspin writer Greg Howard of making up an anecdote about the former ESPN personality that was used as the lede of a lengthy takedown of Whitlock.
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[Jason Whitlock begins his “Explanation" with some shots at Deadspin]
Whitlock’s accusation centers around a story Howard wrote about The Undefeated (a.k.a. “Black Grantland”), ESPN’s attempt at a Whitlock-led sub-site about race and sports that has yet to get off the ground (Whitlock has since moved on to Fox Sports). Howard began the story with a lengthy anecdote about how, while he was hospitalized in Arizona because of an illness, Whitlock called him twice to harangue him over an unflattering line Howard had written about him in a previous story that attacked Whitlock’s criticisms of Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III.
According to Whitlock, that isn’t the way things went down. Instead, he claims he knew Howard was ill and was perfectly polite during their conversations. Whitlock publishes e-mail conversations he later had with Howard in which Howard appears contrite for attack on Whitlock — “I agree, that you were burned,” Howard writes in one e-mail, and “I’ve lost your trust,” he writes in another — thanks Whitlock for his concern over his health scare and makes no mention of any telephone mistreatment while Howard was hospitalized.
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“He built the entire premise of his longform piece(s) about me and ‘Black Grantland’ on a breathtaking lie,” Whitlock writes.
Whitlock also claims Howard told him that two Deadspin editors — the since-resigned Tommy Craggs and current editor Tim Marchman — inserted racially inflammatory language into Howard’s story that criticized Whitlock’s opinion of Griffin. In essence, Howard claimed Whitlock was calling Griffin the N-word in his columns about the Redskins quarterback.
Whitlock alleges that Howard told him Craggs and Marchman — neither of whom are black — inserted the N-word line into his story, and that Howard — who is black — protested its insertion before finally agreeing to its publication.
“The n-word part was added by one of my editors. I did, however, give it a final read, and told them to publish. For that, I truly apologize,” Howard wrote to Whitlock, according to Whitlock.
He also recounts a telephone conversation he said he had with Howard, whom he also alleges was angling for a job at the Undefeated:
As promised, Howard called me. During our phone conversation, I was firm, direct and polite with my questions. He said he was a lifelong Redskins fan, Griffin was his favorite player and all he wanted to do was criticize me for not being more sympathetic toward the other issues limiting Griffin’s success. He claimed Tommy Craggs and Tim Marchman, his editors, injected the racially inflammatory narrative into his story. He said he feared pushing back against their edits because he did not want Craggs and Marchman to suspect he wanted a job with me and ESPN, Deadspin’s enemy. I countered, if true, they were using him and his black skin to cowardly lob attacks they do not have the courage to attach their names to. They were using a 25-year-old black fan to attack my character. I was confused and disappointed.
Howard is “Deadspin’s black mascot, a clever, updated Jayson Blair,” Whitlock writes, referring to the former New York Times writer who was found to have made up or plagiarized numerous stories.
The Post has reached out to Howard for comment. He has yet to respond.
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