Ex-ESPN star Linda Cohn is back — with hotter – Latest News
Meet the new Linda Cohn. Same because the previous Linda Cohn.
Only now, the pioneering sports activities broadcaster who delivered straight sports activities information at ESPN for 34 years, has shed her company yoke. She is embracing radical candor with her just lately launched eponymous YouTube show.
“For the first time the gloves are off,” Cohn informed me of her transfer into impartial opinion journalism. “For the first time, I can speak freely on how I was feeling about certain subjects involving sports.”
After retiring from ESPN after three many years, Linda Cohn began an eponymous YouTube show with exhibits on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Courtesy of Linda Cohn
And boy, had she saved up lots to say. Cohn — who anchored SportsHeart and did play by play for the WNBA — retired from the community in June and wasted little time beginning her second act.
In late July, the 66-year-old began the twice weekly (Tuesdays and Thursdays) Linda Cohn show weighing in on the largest sports activities tales, together with WNBA controversies (decide one), badly behaved influencers on the US Open, Arch Manning laughing on the AI video of Holly Rowe and ESPN’s spherical of layoffs this summer season.
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Three weeks in the past, she added an NFL-centric Sunday show to the combination and has shortly amassed over 36,000 subscribers. She additionally just lately signed a deal with Bleav podcast community, which can broaden her footprint to different platforms like Spotify and Apple.
The response to her new chapter been “very empowering” and affirming for the Long Island native, who over her profession in conventional media, was “trained in being the good girl and measured in what I said. It’s been ingrained in me for decades.”
During her tenure, Cohn confirmed a lot more self-restraint than some of her colleagues, who used their airtime to lecture viewers on their pet leftist causes.
During her pioneering 34 12 months profession at ESPN, Linda Cohn labored alongside different community legends like Chris Berman and the late Stuart Scott. Rich Arden/ESPN
Now there’s no go well with hovering over her shoulder, telling her to delete a Tweet or soften her language. And she’s instantly took to her new freedom, shining a crucial mild on her previous community.
The begin of her show coincided with industry shaking layoffs at ESPN, which included beloved mainstays like Karl Ravech and David Lloyd. Cohn didn’t maintain back.
“It was so many close friends of mine [who were affected]. I spoke openly, honestly and freely about it. I think people said, ‘Wow Linda Cohn’s going to be really honest about it’. People were thinking the same way I was, but I had worked there for 34 years, and I said it.”
Adam Henrique of the Anaheim Ducks, Linda Cohn, Julie Uhrman, Jillian Samueli-Reddin, Misty May-Treanor, Lauren Chamberlain and Travis Boyd of the Arizona Coyotes pose for a picture during the ceremonial puck drop on Women in Sports Night previous to a recreation between the Arizona Coyotes and the Anaheim Ducks. NHLI through Getty Images
That candor, says Cohn, lent her solo act instantly credibility and put some momentum behind her show.
Under her own banner, Cohn has grow to be a formidable and entertaining presence on X, doling out unvarnished takes and interacting with critics in a refreshingly well mannered, skilled method.
But it’s been her WNBA takes on Caitlin Clark, the self-inflicted trans controversy and A’ja Wilson withdrawing from the World Cup roster on the final minute, which have additionally made her polarizing to a sure phase of sports activities followers who see every part via a partisan lens.
Those detractors have labeled her “MAGA” and a proper wing grifter.
“There are people out there making assumptions, and they don’t know who the hell I am,” stated Cohn.
Who is she?
Broadcasting legend Linda Cohn has written in regards to the difficulties of breaking into the boys membership, however the Swiftie now invokes a lyric from Taylor Swift’s tune, “New Romantics” about resilience. Courtesy of Linda Cohn
“I’m not a political person,” she stated. “I’m a journalist. Guess what journalists do? We ask questions. We don’t just take the PR statement that is out there.”
She’s additionally taken explicit heat for defending Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham saying that males don’t belong in girls’s sports activities, a viewpoint that ten years in the past could be thought of banal. Safe. Normal.
“The first athlete I looked up to as an 11-year-old learning to play tennis was Billie Jean King. And she fought so hard to create Title IX. This is one topic I don’t understand. Why aren’t people using common sense here.”
Indeed, wading into opinion journalism can imply each reward and unsparing blowback.
Now a solo impartial act, Linda Cohn has pivoted into opinion journalism and recurrently responds to critics. Linda Cohn /X
But it’s inspired her to grow one other layer of thick pores and skin over the one she grew as she got here up within the male-centric business, breaking into the boys membership.
“I’m not complaining because I chose to be in this business,” stated Cohn. “It was definitely harder back then. Or more challenging.”
As she settles into this new section, the self professed “Swiftie from way back when” has repurposed a line from the Taylor Swift tune, “New Romantics” into her personal mantra.
“I could build a castle out of all the bricks they threw at me,” she stated, repeating the lyric to me.
“I always come back to that.”
After all, she has years of expertise, self-assurance and now independence on her aspect, “I’m being true to myself.”
