Protest outside ESPN draws few

Reporter Jackie Majerus filed this:

A Christian Defense Coalition protest outside ESPN Friday drew about 15 people.
The protestors said they were upset with the sports media giant's response to alleged remarks made off the air at an Atlantic City party January 11 by SportsCenter anchor Dana Jacobson.
Jessica Ross, 21, of Bristol, joined the demonstration.
She was offended, Ross said, when she heard reports that Jacobson – speaking at a rowdy roast for other ESPN personalities – said "F--- Notre Dame, f--- Touchdown Jesus and f--- Jesus."
Jacobson, a Michigan alum, was making comments about Notre Dame football, said ESPN Vice President Mike Soltys, not about any religious faith.
The roast was for Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg, hosts of Mike & Mike in the Morning. Golic is a Notre Dame alum and "Touchdown Jesus" is a school icon, a mural painted in the end zone.
ESPN condemned the comments and suspended Jacobson for a week, but the Christian Defense Coalition, led by the Rev. Patrick Mahoney – a former pastor at Hillside Community Church in Forestville – wants her fired.
Speaking to television cameras in front of ESPN Friday, Mahoney said ESPN should "release the tape" of Jacobson's comments.
While Soltys said ESPN does have a copy of her remarks, the company will not make them public. He has repeatedly stated that the reports are "imprecise" but said that the company has condemned them and sees no reason to repeat them.
"There's a lot of inaccurate information," said Soltys, that is circulating on the internet.
"They haven't said exactly that she did not say that," said Ross, who said she attends Hillside Community Church. She said a week's suspension isn't much of a punishment.
Jacobson's comments, said Ross, were "against the Jesus that I serve."
Ross said she wants ESPN to take Jacobson's comments seriously.
"I'm not out to get her," said Ross.
Officials at Notre Dame took offense at Jacobson's remarks, but have said they accept how ESPN dealt with the incident.
Soltys, who is Catholic, said he found Jacobson's comments "wrong," but not bigoted or hate speech.
"They were about Notre Dame football," said Soltys.
Mahoney tried to compare the incident with one last year when actor Isaiah Washington, who played Dr. Preston Burke on ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," used an anti-gay slur against a fellow cast member.
"He used the term 'faggot' and he was fired," said Mahoney, who said he wants similar "justice" from ESPN for Christians by firing Jacobson. "ABC owns ESPN."
In fact, ABC does not own ESPN. ESPN belongs to The Walt Disney Co., which also owns ABC.
At the time of his comments, Washington was rebuked and issued an apology. He was not fired, but months later, the network did not renew his contract.
"No one at ESPN was involved in any way, shape or form with the Isaiah Washington situation," said Soltys, and ABC isn't at all involved in this one.
Discipline is done on a case by case basis, said Soltys, with careful consideration given to the circumstances, the person involved and their track record.
"We act on it based on what we feel is the correct thing to do, not from interest that generates on the internet," said Soltys.
Mahoney said he wants ESPN to host a roundtable discussion on religious discrimination in the workplace. Christians find using the words "God damn something" as offensive as African Americans find the use of "the n-word," said Mahoney.
The punishment meted out by ESPN is "insulting and it shows that ESPN just doesn't get it," said Mahoney.
The group also wants to meet with Jacobson, said Mahoney, who insisted that they love and forgive her.
"They were ugly comments," said Josh Conrad of Bristol, who attends Hillside Community Church and was at the protest. "We've already forgiven her."
But Conrad said Jacobson should still be fired.
"Comments like this are a form of persecution," said Conrad. "ESPN has treated the incident with a lack of respect and a lack of awareness. It's been quietly brushed under the rug."
Conrad, 24, said he watches ESPN "all the time." and hasn't stopped since the Jacobson incident.
During the protest, several passing vehicles honked. One car had a window open, and from inside, someone shouted, "Get a life!"
Several Bristol police officers were at the scene, helping protestors, reporters and photographers – who had parked across the street – cross busy Route 229.
Sgt. Dave Boi of the Bristol Police Department said the road is especially dangerous in front of ESPN. He said there have been fatalities there in the past and police didn't want anyone to be hit walking across the road.

And she also filed this, later in the day:

Executives from ESPN sat down for a nearly two-hour meeting with leaders of the Christian Defense Coalition Friday afternoon and both sides emerged from the session anticipating future talks.
ESPN Vice President Mike Soltys said he and Steve Anderson, an executive vice president who oversees the commentators, met at the Clarion hotel with the Rev. Patrick Mahoney and two others from the group after Mahoney led a protest outside ESPN.
"We had a good dialog about sensitivity toward language," said Soltys, especially with respect to Christianity.
Mahoney said his group asked Soltys and Anderson to pass along a request to speak with Dana Jacobson, whose alleged comments at a rowdy roast in Atlantic City inflamed Mahoney's group.
Jacobson's off-air remarks weren't published, and ESPN isn't releasing them. The company said they were inappropriate but were about Notre Dame football, not religion.
Jacobson was suspended for a week, but Mahoney's group wants her fired.
"Obviously she said something offensive," said Mahoney, because ESPN suspended her.
Anderson told Mahoney he would deliver the request to Jacobson when she returns to work on Monday.
"I want her to see that we accept her apology," said Mahoney. "I want to hear from her, what she said and the context in which she said it."
He said he wants to "hear her heart."
"We promised that we would not embarrass her," said Mahoney. "It would be great to just talk face to face."
Mahoney said his group offered to set up a meeting of "faith leaders who are struggling with this" and ESPN representatives.
"They're very open to that," Mahoney said.
"We told them that we're open to dialog, that we've been discussing this with faith leaders that have called us and we've reached out to some of them on our own," said Soltys, adding that the dialog this week has been "positive."
The two sides "pledged to continue to talk to each other," Soltys said.
Mahoney said the meeting with ESPN was the "first step."
"Nothing's off the table," said Mahoney. "We're not calling for a boycott. We're not calling for massive demonstrations right now."


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Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com