The mysterious Media Research Center sports blogger Jay Maxson can always find something to hate, especially when it involves involves ESPN. In a July 8 post, he unleashes fury for some reason on ESPN the Magazine’s Body Issue:
ESPN’s latest controversy has nothing to do with politics or sports performance. The sports network is now resorting to nudity for magazine sales and internet clicks to lead the world in entertainment. ESPN magazine’s “The Body Issue” presents 23 male and female athletes not only out of uniform but completely out of clothing. If your business is flagging, as ESPN’s is, just resort to the lowest common denominator.
Putting the anti-Trump and LGBT agendas aside for the time being, ESPN’s website is promoting the athletes-turned-exhibitionists in shocking athletic poses. Each is portrayed taking athletic stances or actions corresponding to their respective sport. Rear ends are completely exposed in several photos. Men and women hide their fronts, and women cover their breasts with their hands or arms. Very little is left to the imagination.
[…]It seems this crass outfit is intent on shocking people and distracting sports’ fans attention away actual sports. Now when families attend a sporting event, their children may remark about the athlete that actually has his clothes on.
I encourage all parents with children in the home to adjust their computer filters by adding ESPN.com and espn.com/espnw/ to their blocked lists to protect them from this.
ESPN postures itself as culturally enlightening, but the truth is this morally bankrupt media organization is contaminating our culture and taking it downward.
Maxson does concede one inconvenient fact later in his post: that this is not the first Body Issue, but the ninth. Maxson doesn’t concede, though, that the Body Issue is such a nonissue that even the outlet that published this manufactured outrage had little problem with the Body Issue until now.
We found exactly two NewsBusters posts in its archives referencing the Body Issue: a 2012 post (on the fourth Body Issue) by Ryan Robertson huffing that it might be “time for ESPN Magazine to don the ‘plain brown wrapper’ and move to the very top back of the magazine rack where curious youngsters can’t catch a glimpse,” and a 2016 post by “Bruce Bookter” ranting the issue featured a transgender athlete.
Interestingly, we could find no record at NewsBusters of Maxson ranting about Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue, which features a similar “resort to the lowest common denominator” by featuring pictures of nearly or completely naked people. He doesn’t explain why sexy models get a pass from him while sexy athletes get the full brunt of his hypocritical scorn.