Ex-ESPN reporter Ed Werder is a white man. As both a sports reporter and a white man, Werder, and all those like him, make up some 90 percent of sports journalism, so when Sports Illustrated tweeted out that they had a spot for an entry-level news writer position, SI senior writer Charlotte Wilder saw this as a golden moment to push for women as applicants.
“If you can stand sitting near me in the office this is a v cool opportunity. Especially if you’re a woman trying to get into sports, you should message me—DMs are open,” Wilder tweeted, TMZ Sports reports.
Somehow, Werder got his knickers (I assume that Werder wears knickers, but admittedly, I don’t know this as a fact) all in a bunch.
“So men need not apply? Any others ineligible?” Werder tweeted with tears staining his whiteness.
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Wilder responded, “Oh WOW you’re right, Ed, sorry for attempting to make sports media more than 10% female, my bad,” as TMZ Sports reports.
Werder replied: “I just always associated SI with hiring the best regardless of race, sex and other factors.”
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Someone asked Werder why he was so white-man upset, considering that white men dominate sports journalism. Werder responded, according to TMZ:
Because next week, I’m going to be standing in front of a broadcasting class of young people and some will be males and I have to tell them they have the same chance at jobs like those one as all others.
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One of Werder’s former colleagues, Mina Kimes—a senior writer at ESPN the Magazine—stepped in to explain to Werder the obvious point he kept missing.
“Encouraging women to apply for a position isn’t the same thing as ‘excluding’ men,” Kimes tweeted. “It’s helping female applicants network, which can be a challenge given the massive gender imbalance in our industry (which I’m sure you know exists).”
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Werder didn’t respond, and something tells me it’s not because he actually got the point.
