Longtime Seattle Sports Columnist Resigns Over Spiked Sophie Cunningham Article: ‘The Mob is Frightening’

WISH-TV News

Longtime Seattle Times sports columnist Matt Calkins announced his decision to resign from the paper after 11 years Thursday. Calkins accused the newspaper of spiking several columns of his, including one about Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham.

Calkins announced the news on X and his Substack.

“After 11 years as a sports columnist at the Seattle Times, I have decided to resign. It was entirely my choice, and it was not an easy one. The impetus was the Times declining to run a column I wrote from the perspective of two female student athletes who were opposed to competing against biological males,” he wrote.

“It was one of several pieces of mine that had been spiked, and I no longer felt like I could properly do my job as a columnist. I lay out the situation in greater detail in the link below, but I want to say that I enjoyed my time with the paper, find the talent there to be immense, and have no animosity toward anyone who works there. It was just time for a change.”

Calkins also offered more detail about the other columns the newspaper declined to publish:

One was a piece questioning whether players for the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team were really the victims of discrimination in their equal-pay lawsuit. Another was a more general column on cancel culture in sports. The last, written shortly after George Floyd’s death, implored people to listen to state-champion basketball coach Mike Bethea — a black man urging the public not to stereotype cops. The common theme? All of these challenged prevailing newsroom narratives and likely would have triggered the outrage mob.

Calkins also insisted he does not wan to be “muzzled.” As he put it on his Substack, “To be honest, I’m scared shitless right now. I have no idea how the next few months or years are going to play out. But that fear beats the indignity of being muzzled.”

The Seattle Times offered no comment in response to Mediaite.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!