- 2 days ago
The Athletic's Diana Russini resigned on Tuesday after an outcry over an alleged relationship with Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel. Steak Shapiro discussed the public perception of this hot-button issue, likening it to something from his own career, and he discussed what could come next.
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00:00So the Diane Rossini story with Mike Vrabel, which we have touched on to a degree, not from a sensationalized
00:09version, but like what might happen here.
00:11What's the T on how this thing may have played out?
00:14Do we believe that they may have really been two hours away from the NFL meetings in a innocent rendezvous
00:21with friends?
00:21All that stuff is something that has been kicked around.
00:24And obviously it's a huge story.
00:27The social media was built for this, right?
00:29We don't pretend this is as serious as the war in Iran, and we don't pretend this is as serious.
00:35But in our world, this is what you talk about, right?
00:38NFL head coach, senior writer for the New York Times, The Athletic.
00:43Now, the New York Times purchased The Athletic, so when you say senior writer, New York Times, it has more
00:48gravitas.
00:49She's a NFL writer for The Athletic at a very high level, senior level.
00:55So, and she's breaking stories and covered the Titans with Mike Vrabel and has covered the Patriots, but now she's
01:00at the national level.
01:01When she was covering the Titans, was she the beat reporter for them?
01:04ESPN, NFL reporter, and they had, she was assigned to teams.
01:09Okay, so that was one of her teams.
01:11So, I can just tell you, I mean, it's well documented that I was in the middle of a radio
01:16scandal that happened, do you even know how long ago that was?
01:20Is it 12 years ago?
01:20I don't even want to Google it.
01:22Yeah.
01:22Well, you can Google it.
01:23I'm not, you know.
01:24So, we were on the air, myself, Nick Cellini, and Chris D'Amino, and we've done hundreds of radio bits
01:31in the past, and we did a knock-knock radio bit that my-
01:372013.
01:37Yeah, my co-host kind of went rogue and did a bit that me and D'Amino had no idea
01:43where he was going, had nothing to do with writing the jokes, didn't know about the jokes, didn't have any
01:49ownership of it because I simply was taken by surprise, but all of us lost our jobs over it.
01:55It was very ill-advised comedy, of which one person, and I'm not even blaming, because when you do comedy,
02:03ask Mike Bell, me and him work together for years, you're throwing stuff out there all the time, and it's
02:07a danger that it's taken the wrong way, or it should have been taken the wrong way, because it wasn't
02:13funny, it was an offensive, and it had to do with Steve Gleason and the whole history in New Orleans
02:17and whatever it is.
02:18Now, I can just tell you with absolute, and I think you can hear it, I'm not, there's no ill
02:24will towards my co-host who put me in that position, but I had nothing to do with it, but
02:29I was fired immediately because all the show was fired.
02:32So I go to crisis management because we're trending all over the country, Howard Stern's playing our stuff, CNN, Fox
02:41News, we are the lead story across the board in sports as these three idiots in Atlanta,
02:47and I go to see a crisis management team, Jackson Spaulding, and I am obviously seeing my career flash before
02:53my eyes, and now not only have I been in the year 18 years, never had one incident like this,
02:58never been suspended, never had anything like that happen,
03:00but I'm really worried about my reputation for the rest of my life and my career, because I had a
03:06three-year contract and was fired with cause, right?
03:09So all that swirling, when I go to see Jack Spaulding, and I'm like, listen, I've been in the year
03:1318 years, I've never had this.
03:14My wife's from New Orleans, I love that city, I love that story, I would never say anything ill will
03:19about him.
03:21It wasn't me who did it, it was my co-host came up with it, I had no idea what
03:25he was going to say.
03:26All of that.
03:26The one thing they said is nobody cares.
03:30They don't want to hear an excuse.
03:32Right.
03:32Were you on the air?
03:33Yes.
03:33Do you feel bad about it?
03:34Yes.
03:35Are you embarrassed by the bit?
03:37Yes.
03:37Okay.
03:39Well, you seem like a good guy, you've had a great career, you're going to apologize.
03:43You're just going to apologize.
03:46You're not going to say-
03:47Don't put a but after it.
03:48Exactly.
03:48Don't put in addition to after it.
03:50Hey, keep in mind, I've been on the air, I've never had this happen.
03:53No.
03:54No asterisk, no nothing.
03:55Don't mention that, you know, Kimberly's family's from Louisiana, you have great love of-
03:58Nobody cares.
04:00Not easy, especially because I felt like, you know, it's one-
04:03I have no problem outright apologizing when I absolutely did something wrong.
04:06In this case, I was kind of like, well, I didn't even do it,
04:08but they're like, this is how it works.
04:11So I go down to CNN and it's immediate.
04:16Like, we are trending as the number one story in America.
04:19And I get on CNN and it was a Brooke Baldwin.
04:22They were doing a bit about, they were doing the package about us.
04:25It's like, here's Don Imus, here's Jimmy the Greek, and here are these three idiots from Atlanta.
04:30All scandals in sports.
04:32And the next thing you know, someone says to Brooke Baldwin in her ear, hey, Stake Shapiro's here.
04:38And she is salivating.
04:40It's just about anybody would.
04:42Hold on, he's trending as the number one story.
04:44He's live and he's going to come on here and we're going to be able to talk to this jackass.
04:49So I'd rather, if you didn't Google the video, because we're trying to get it to the bottom of my
04:53search, which it is.
04:54But I do the interview.
04:57I apologize.
04:58I said I would have been offended if I heard it.
05:00She says, should you have been fired?
05:01I said, listen, I'm just here to apologize.
05:03I already spoke to the family and apologize.
05:06You know, do you think this is a shock jock mentality?
05:10I'm just here to say I'm sorry.
05:12And my legs are shaking like they are now because they shake.
05:15And at one point she goes, what's, you're shaking over there?
05:18Like, what's going on?
05:20Like, anybody who knows me, don't sit next to me at a movie theater because I'm going to, like, I'm
05:24going to shake the whole row.
05:25That's my ADHD.
05:26And I said to her, listen, I'm used to being where you're sitting.
05:30You know, I was on CNN all the time and commentating.
05:32I used to come in a lot.
05:33And now I'm on the other side.
05:35This is nerve-wracking.
05:36I'm nervous.
05:37This is making me uncomfortable, right?
05:39To quote James Franklin, I'm all uncomfortable.
05:41And that was just an honest answer.
05:44I wrote one Facebook.
05:45I wrote one tweet.
05:47Within two months, I was back on CNN as a commentator.
05:52And I was rehired thanks to 680 The Fan and David Dickey and spent seven years with you and Brian.
05:58So every piece of advice I got there, though difficult to hear, was perfect.
06:04And I know I've talked to those folks over there before.
06:06I said, you saved my career by giving me good advice.
06:08So that I know better than anybody else because I watch apologies all the time.
06:13Paula Deen.
06:14I may have used that word, but, you know, Matt Lowry won't even do the interview.
06:18Like, there's plenty of guys that go on there.
06:19And it's like, just be authentic and just give a real apology or acknowledge.
06:25We would both acknowledge that Diane Rossini probably, as a person that covers the NFL,
06:30should not be in a hot tub in a bathing suit with Mike Vrabel on some balcony, right?
06:37You would acknowledge that's not.
06:39You're a woman.
06:40You're married.
06:41Both of you are married.
06:42Forget that they are working and all that.
06:44It's a tale as old as time's sake.
06:46And I don't want to go ahead and finish your thought.
06:48No, no, but I don't agree that it's about them being married.
06:50I'm talking about the professional part of it.
06:52I'm talking about, should she be, forget that's between her and her husband.
06:56That's between her, his, from a professional standpoint, should she be in that setting?
07:01No.
07:01Right.
07:01She should not be, get caught in that setting because it happens all the time.
07:06In every workplace in America, are you going to tell me that girl over here and guy over
07:12there haven't hooked up, haven't been married?
07:14It happens all the time.
07:17My issue is that they are married and it's scandalous in that.
07:22Yeah.
07:22I don't care.
07:23I don't care that they're married.
07:24Continue with your thought.
07:25No, I'm done.
07:25I'm saying that her apology was terrible.
07:28Right, right.
07:29Her apology was terrible.
07:30Like, just, just admit some vulnerability.
07:34I've come to decision with sadness and clarity, um, that I'm going to resign years.
07:41You, uh, you and I, this is the note to the athletic.
07:46You and I have publicly addressed the recent attacks against me.
07:50Again, I'm the victim here.
07:51I have nothing to add publicly to what we have said.
07:55I've covered the NFL with professionalism and dedication throughout my career.
07:58And I stand behind every story.
08:00Okay.
08:01Again, it's all about you and your great job you've done over the years.
08:04Doesn't sound like an apology or any admit, oh, I did anything wrong.
08:08When page six first, uh, appeared with the story, the athletic supported me for that.
08:13I'm grateful.
08:14In the days that followed commentators in various media have engaged in self feeding speculation
08:20that is unmoored from the facts.
08:24Moreover, this media frenzy is hurtling forward without regard for the review process as if
08:30there's a review process on social media.
08:33Like what she said.
08:34That's a great idea.
08:35There should be a review process.
08:36That's maybe the good thing to come out of here.
08:38A nice review process.
08:40It continues.
08:40The Twitter.
08:41It continues to escalate fueled by reported leaks.
08:44And I have no interest in submitting to a public inquiry that has already caused far more damage
08:51than I'm willing to accept.
08:53Okay.
08:54Then she goes on.
08:55A career spanning 15 years in sports journalism, journalism, NBC, ESPN, the athletic.
09:01I've built a body of work.
09:02I'm proud of.
09:03I break stories, earn the trust of sources and been guided by the highest standards.
09:08I'm grateful to the athletic.
09:10Never.
09:11Is there anything about, I may have put my family in an uncomfortable position.
09:15It's time for me to maybe focus on that.
09:18Never does she say from a journalistic standpoint, journalistic standpoint.
09:24I mean, there's not a second of acknowledgement.
09:29There is no sensationalizing here about even less so.
09:34Like, yeah, you owe your husband a big ass explanation.
09:37And it does look like you guys were probably hooking up.
09:40Separate of all that, how can you think that if you are partying, sitting in a hot tub,
09:47in a private bungalow with a coach of the Super Bowl team, the head coach of the Super Bowl team,
09:55that that is not worth saying, it's usually a time when someone goes, listen, my career was taking off,
10:02and maybe I lost my footing a little bit, and it's not a place that I needed to be over.
10:09Just admit that.
10:10Take some.
10:11You're blaming the media because they took the picture?
10:15You're blaming Twitter because you got the head coach of the Patriots in a bathing suit with a head writer
10:23from The Athletic?
10:25The Dave Portner comments, I did agree with him on this, and I guess I was thinking the same thing.
10:31If, in fact, you were there with all these friends and there were so many people around,
10:35the first thing I would have done is get out my phone and go, here's the other five, six girlfriends
10:40I was just with.
10:41They were all in the pool.
10:43This was Photoshopped.
10:44Here's my text thread with him.
10:46You can look at all of it.
10:48You know, I would absolutely prove my case.
10:51So, and, you know, that quick pivot to I'm resigning, the perception is reality at this point.
10:59So, I guess.
11:00There hasn't been one photo.
11:02Right.
11:02And I know you and your friend, Sandra, are the most loyal, as are mine,
11:06because we both have this long-standing relationship.
11:09My buddies or your girlfriends would have said, would have sent those photos to the New York Times
11:16because the Post is their enemy, right, or whoever, TMZ.
11:20And, by the way, my girlfriends are not, we are not staying at some romantic couple's hotel
11:24because that is no fun for me.
11:25So, the whole, that's what I'm saying, the optics.
11:27So, and Mike Vrabel, where is he?
11:31You know, I'm like, okay, we'll deal with you.
11:32We'll deal with you in a second.
11:33But I do want to pivot real quick to Michelle Beadle's comment stake, if I may.
11:37So, Michelle Beadle came out, and I know we don't have time, on an awful announcing yesterday.
11:42And she is friends with Diana Bruce Sanders.
11:43She's a former ESPN reporter, host, that got fired from ESPN for some just unprofessional comments on the air
11:51regarding sports, which is, we're dumb.
11:53Right.
11:53She got fired.
11:54She said, I don't watch the NFL.
11:55I don't watch football.
11:56Right.
11:56She's the biggest part.
11:56But she was basically calling out.
11:58Other women.
11:59Because it was a field day of a lot of ladies who do what we do, who got up.
12:06They took a ladder to get up on their high horse and preach what Diana should and shouldn't be doing.
12:11And Michelle Beadle says, if I could go write a book, I know all y'all's troubles, which insinuating.
12:19Yeah.
12:20She also said, I've done it.
12:21Yeah, hooking up or whatever it is.
12:24What she said was, I've made mistakes throughout my career.
12:28I was places I should not have been.
12:30So, don't all be Pollyanna.
12:33My point is, she got horrendous advice.
12:39Diana got horrendous advice.
12:41What kind of a resignation letter?
12:44Why can't you understand it as a person?
12:48There's so many things that look wrong about that.
12:51It's not a party hotel.
12:53You can't get those photos unless you're up top through a hotel room on a bungalow.
12:58Right?
12:58If there were other people there.
13:00Where are they?
13:01Good luck, Mike Vrabel and Diane Rossini trying to explain that to your spouses.
13:05My only point is, this is such a cop-out.
13:07It was a pretty easy, like, listen, I made some mistakes.
13:12By the way, that should have been two sentences, like you said.
13:15I'm going to pivot and take some time with my family.
13:17I'm resigning.
13:18Period.
13:18I acknowledge I may have made some mistakes in judgment in my professional career, and
13:23I still am grateful.
13:25It did not need to be three paragraphs.
13:27Yeah.
13:28And I don't need to hear about the contract being up and when it was up and the whole thing.
13:32There's not one comment of, I may have done something wrong.
13:36Yeah.
13:36Right?
13:37Just at least give us that.
13:39You don't have to tell us if you guys...
13:40I want to come back, though, and I know you're such a patriot loyalist.
13:43Listen, we have so many other things to cover.
13:46I think, ladies and gentlemen, I don't like this being so one-sided on her.
13:50We'll talk about that.
13:51And people saying, oh, I feel bad for their kids.
13:53They didn't feel bad enough for their kids at that point.
13:56404-726-0929.
13:57Now I'm getting pissy.
14:00404-726-0929.
14:03You heard my whole story.
14:04Hopefully it brought some context that I understand this situation.
14:10I was exactly there, except I got good advice.
14:14I was going to...
14:14You didn't...
14:15Well, I was there in terms of we were the story.
14:17It's very different.
14:18It's very different.
14:19They chose this decision.
14:22Those two decided to go away together and do whatever, allegedly.
14:27You didn't choose that, so...
14:29I didn't make a decision to tell a bad joke somebody else did, and I got fired for it.
14:33My only point is, I was in the situation of, you got to write something or say something.
14:39I don't know what the tweet was I wrote or the Facebook post, but it was brief.
14:42Good.
14:43And I was back in it for two months.
14:44Three sentences.
14:44Yeah.
14:45We'll talk about it.
14:46I'd love to hear from the listeners.
14:47404-726-0929.
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