Paul Shirley makes harsh remarks about Haiti; fired by ESPN

I’m sure most of you are wondering who the hell Paul Shirley is and why we’re talking about him. He gained some notoriety as a journeyman NBA player and had a fairly successful blog for ESPN.com.

His willingness to be extremely honest with his play, the play of his teammates, and his situation in general made him popular.

But he recently penned an article for a site called Flip Collective about the Haiti relief effort that was just a bit out of bounds. I’m not doing it justice by just pulling 100 words, so I suggest reading the whole thing if you have a chance.

However, here is an excerpt for the lazy among you:

Dear Haitians -

First of all, kudos on developing the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Your commitment to human rights, infrastructure, and birth control should be applauded.

As we prepare to assist you in this difficult time, a polite request: If it’s possible, could you not re-build your island home in the image of its predecessor? Could you not resort to the creation of flimsy shanty- and shack-towns? And could some of you maybe use a condom once in a while?

Sincerely,

The Rest of the World

Well, you can probably get the drift of the article from there. His employer ESPN was quick to pull the trigger on him releasing a statement this morning.

He was a part-time freelance contributor. The views he expressed on another’s site of course do not at all reflect our company’s views on the Haiti relief efforts. He will no longer contribute to ESPN.

That’s code for “Don’t let that flimsy Shanty door hit you square in the ass on the way out”.

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