ESPN may have taken action against one of its longest-tenured voices. Paul Finebaum has been a regular presence across the network for a decade, but he has been noticeably absent from "SportsCenter," "Get Up," and "First Take" over the past week. According to OutKick founder Clay Travis, that is not a coincidence.
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Finebaum joined Travis for an interview last week in which he revealed that he has thought about leaving ESPN to run for a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama. The 70-year-old said the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk motivated him to consider the move.
A high-ranking ESPN source just confirmed @ClayTravis' report to me that the network removed @finebaum from his scheduled appearances on SportsCenter, Get Up, and First Take since his interview w/@OutKick.
The source said ESPN could put Finebaum back on-air this week to spite…
— Bobby Burack (@burackbobby_) October 6, 2025
He also noted that he is a registered Republican, would run as one, and admitted he voted for Donald Trump — before adding that ESPN has told its talent not to discuss such matters.
Travis and OutKick's Bobby Burack reported Monday that Finebaum has been quietly pulled from his usual ESPN TV appearances because of those comments. ESPN pushed back. Vice president of PR Bill Hofheimer responded on social media to Travis' post and called the claim "not true at all."
This is not true at all. The below is TOTALLY FALSE. https://t.co/nmnBA9mj13
— bill hofheimer (@bhofheimer_espn) October 6, 2025
Even so, the timing is difficult to ignore. Finebaum has remained in place as host of "The Paul Finebaum Show" on SEC Network and was on the set of "SEC Nation" Saturday morning. But his absence from ESPN's daily national programming has drawn plenty of attention.
Of course he was. https://t.co/OcWoApzHvj
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 6, 2025
Travis and others have accused ESPN of hypocrisy, pointing out that Stephen A. Smith has frequently weighed in on political issues in recent years and even negotiated a contract that allows him to do so more openly.
There was no @finebaum interview scheduled for First Take Tuesday on @espn. This is also a lie. ESPN has been panicked all morning over this story. They benched Finebaum. Now they are trying to pretend it wasn’t true. Lies on lies on lies. For shame @bhofheimer_espn!
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 6, 2025
Finebaum, who built his brand as a newspaper columnist in Birmingham before moving to radio and later the SEC Network in 2014, now finds himself in the middle of a much bigger conversation.
It never ceases to amaze me how many “reporters” will Tweet whatever a midwit PR person asks them to Tweet in exchange for a “scoop” on a three year extension for an employee no one has ever heard of. If you just had a scintilla of basic ethics or brains wouldn’t you wonder why a…
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 6, 2025
