Uncancelled: ESPN Reporter Ousted for Refusing Vaccine Finds New Home with Conservative Media
Allison Williams was one of the most popular sideline reporters at ESPN for over a decade, but she walked away from the network last week after it refused to exempt her from its vaccine mandate.
One week later, a prominent conservative media company has announced they have hired her to host an exclusive sports show.
Ben Shapiro announced on his podcast Friday that his company, The Daily Wire, will bring on Williams as their newest employee.
“Very proud to announce this,” Shapiro wrote on Twitter. “Freedom matters. And quality people should not lose their employment because Joe Biden or ESPN demands they surrender their independent judgment.”
Very proud to announce this. Freedom matters. And quality people should not lose their employment because Joe Biden or ESPN demands they surrender their independent judgment. https://t.co/GIsp4swncj
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) October 22, 2021
Williams also expressed excitement about the new opportunity in a tweet of her own on Friday.
“When one door closes another opens,” she said. “Beyond excited to collaborate with the Daily Wire to expose the side of these mandates in sports that isn’t being told.”
When one door closes another opens.
Beyond excited to collaborate with the Daily Wire to expose the side of these mandates in sports that isn’t being told https://t.co/xshCCUq3ru— Allison Williams (@AllisonW_Sports) October 22, 2021
Williams initially announced her departure from ESPN in an Instagram video on Oct. 15. She had previously opted out of reporting for the 2021 college football season because she did not want to receive the vaccine, The Daily Wire reported.
“Belief is a word I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, because in addition to the medical apprehensions regarding my desire to have another child in regards to receiving this injection, I am also so morally and ethically not aligned with this,” she said.
“And I’ve had to really dig deep and analyze my values and my morals, and ultimately I need to put them first.”
In a statement to The Daily Wire, Williams further detailed her decision to leave the company she had worked for since March 2011.
“Leaving ESPN was one of the most difficult decisions of my career, but it was the right thing to do,” she said. “I respect people who choose to get the COVID-19 vaccine, but it was not the appropriate medical decision for me at this time.
“No one should be forced to choose between their livelihood and the freedom to make their own health care choices—it is simply un-American.”
This is not the first time The Daily Wire has hired an on-screen personality who was previously ousted by Disney for her political and/or personal views. In February, the company announced a partnership with actress Gina Carano after she was fired from the Star Wars spinoff series “The Mandalorian” on Disney+.
Since then, Carano and The Daily Wire have begun working on a movie entitled “Terror on the Prairie.” The original plan was to make a movie entitled “White Knuckle,” but Carano called an audible after learning that project would require the entire cast and crew to be vaccinated.
“With the precariousness of the current Hollywood landscape and the remarkable overreach by its ruling class, we made the tough, but prudent choice to ride further out into the wild west to make movies on our own terms,” producer Dallas Sonnier said according to a separate article from The Daily Wire.
“The Daily Wire has given Gina and our team all the support any producers could ask for. Now, we must go make them proud by producing something that is truly great.”
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