ESPN Duped by Fake Football Team

Did the self-described “worldwide leader in sports” get duped into airing a football game between one of
the top high school football squads in the nation and an online academy with a dubious pedigree, a head coach with an active warrant and several players that may not have been eligible to play in the game?

Bishop Sycamore head coach Roy Johnson was fired Tuesday. 

Well, there’s no disputing the fact that defending high school national champion IMG Academy — a perennial gridiron powerhouse from Florida — faced off with Ohio-based school Bishop Sycamore Sunday in the Geico High School Football Kickoff on ESPN, beating the cleats off the Centurions, 58-0. 

The game, which was supposed to put two of the nation’s best teams on national display, was such a mismatch that the network’s own announcers began to question the legitimacy of Bishop Sycamore during the broadcast.

ESPN’s commendations WENT IN on Bishop Sycamore 💀 pic.twitter.com/RCJv46gOA3

— BuckeyeScoop.com (@kirk_barton) August 29, 2021

Shortly following the game other details began to emerge that put the whole affair in question. It was discovered that the contest was the team’s second in three days, putting player safety into question. Then it was reported that the school was 0-6 last year and didn’t seem to exist prior to last season.

By Tuesday things had really gone off the rails. Bishop Sycamore head coach Roy Johnson was fired for “a lot of things,” school director Andre Peterson told Chris Bumbaca of USA Today. One of which was the fact that he has an active bench warrant for failure to appear in a domestic violence case, which was eventually dropped to a criminal mischief charge, issued July 2 by the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office. He is also facing a pending fraud charge for defaulting on a $100,000 loan issued in April 2018 that was never repaid to First Merchants Bank, and a 2019 civil lawsuit filed by ARN Hospitality, says Johnson owes a balance of $110,685 to the group which owns a hotel he is alleged to have housed players at for a night in 2018. 

Add to that the fact that several players, parents and other associates of the team brought some pretty damming stories to light in the aftermath of the contest, it sure seems like ESPN should have been wary of ever approving the squad to be spotlighted on the national stage.

I talked to Aaron Boyd, a former Bishop Sycamore player and he exposed all their dark secrets.

It’s scary what they’re doing over there.

Article: https://t.co/xEIP9pOoWo pic.twitter.com/QEEC1pAiwL

— Zion 🇳🇬 (@ZionOlojede) August 31, 2021

For its part, the network tried to take the focus for the black off itself, issuing a statement Monday that threw Paragon Marketing Group — responsible for arranging the schedule for the Geico event — under the bus:

 We regret that this happened and have discussed it with Paragon, which secured the matchup and handles the majority of our high school event scheduling. They have ensured us that they will take steps to prevent this kind of situation from happening moving forward.

Whether or not that was enough to convince the world, that a network that prides itself on getting the facts and getting them first and employs hundreds of reporters across various mediums couldn’t figure out something it took less than a half for its own announcers to see remains to be seen. 

Black Remake of ‘the Wonder Years’ Set for fall Debut

Courtesy ABC

When times are tough people turn to the past for comfort.

So, it should come as no surprise that this fall’s upcoming primetime lineup is leaning on it to bring in viewers — and among the reboots and reimaginings slated to premier in 2021 is an effort to put a relevant racial spin on an all-time classic.

ABC’s “The Wonder Years” exchanges the white family from the original coming-of-age sitcom that ran from 1988 to 1993 with a black one in what the series creators call “a nostalgic look at a Black middle-class family in Montgomery, Alabama, through the point of view of imaginative 12-year-old Dean.”

Fred Savage who starred in the original series, set in the late 60s and early 70s, as its young protagonist Kevin (Danie Stern served as narrator/adult Kevin), serves as an executive producer on the project alongside creator Saladin K. Patterson, Lee Daniels and Marc Velez.

Saladin who wrote the pilot and grew up in Montgomery — Savage handles directing duties — told the Montgomery Advertiser the series will be “be a love letter to Montgomery, about Montgomery and the people of Montgomery.”

Up-and-comer Elisha “EJ” Williams anchors the cast as 12-year-old Dean Williams, with renowned actor Don Cheadle taking on the roles of narrator and adult Dean. Montgomery, a key location during the United States civil rights movement will also play an important role.

“We want to really take the opportunity to show a part of Black, middle-class life that had not been seen before. Usually, when you talk about the late ’60s, it’s talking about the struggle in the civil rights movement and things like that, that are very valid and a part of our story as well,” said Patterson during the show’s Television Critics Association press tour panel on Aug. 26. “The difference between now and the late ’90s, early 2000s does not seem to be as different as when the original came out and you were looking from ’88 to ’68. And so, we really gravitated towards sticking to the universe — ‘The Wonder Years’ universe — and sticking to that original time, really looking at this Black, middle-class perspective during that time because we haven’t really seen that represented on TV and film before,” he continued.

The show is set to debut on September 22nd, and as a lead-up to the premiere stars of the original, including Savage and Danica McKellar (who played his love interest Winnie Cooper) will make guest appearances across some of ABC’s biggest hits including “The Goldbergs” and “The Conners.”

OnlyFans Reverses Porn Ban Following Outcry

Less than a week after declaring that sexually explicit content would no longer be welcome on the

platform starting October, OnlyFans made an about-face today declaring on its official Twitter site that it "stands for inclusion and we will continue to provide a home for all creators."

The email sent out by OnlyFans prohibiting explicit content. 

Thank you to everyone for making your voices heard.

We have secured assurances necessary to support our diverse creator community and have suspended the planned October 1 policy change.

OnlyFans stands for inclusion and we will continue to provide a home for all creators.

— OnlyFans (@OnlyFans) August 25, 2021

It was a stunning reversal for the content subscription service, which cited banks as the main reason for the decision to cut off the site's large contingent of sex workers from their major source of revenue in an interview with Financial Times:

The change in policy, we had no choice — the short answer is banks," Tim Stokely, the company's CEO, said, adding that banks have refused to work with the company due to "reputational risk," alluding to the many OnlyFans users who sell explicit content on the subscription-based platform.

OnlyFans has frequently run into issues due to financial institutions "flagging and rejecting" transactions, which ultimately led to their decision to move forward without X-rated content, he explained.

"This decision was made to safeguard [our users'] funds and subscriptions from increasingly unfair actions by banks and media companies — we obviously do not want to lose our most loyal creators.

The OnlyFans community would not be what it is today without you.

The policy change was necessary to secure banking and payment services to support you.

We are working around the clock to come up with solutions.#SexWorkIsWork

— OnlyFans (@OnlyFans) August 21, 2021

Following an immediate outcry from both fans, supporters, and advocates critical of the move because they believe it puts sex workers at risk, OnlyFans has suspended the planned policy change. An email sent out to creators said, "The proposed 1 October 2021 changes are no longer required, due to banking partners' assurances that OnlyFans can support all genres of creators. OnlyFans is committed to providing a sage and dependable platform for all creators and their fans."