This may not come as a surprise, but Jason Whitlock’s recent criticism of Katie Nolan is not the first time he called out a female sports media member.
Whitlock’s recent feud with Nolan garnered the attention of longtime sportscaster Alex Flanagan, who has been an NFL Network host and reporter since 2006.
The backstory behind Whitlock’s gratuitous jab at Nolan begins with ESPN’s Maria Taylor accidentally leaving Anthony Davis off her All-NBA ballot, Doug Gottlieb questioning why she’s able to vote on the award, and Taylor defending her credentials. Whitlock then wrote a column for Outkick claiming Taylor would not be successful as a sportscaster if not for her attractiveness, which included a similar declaration for Nolan as a professional beneficiary because of her looks.
After seeing Whitlock’s opinion of Nolan, Flanagan wrote a blog post detailing incidents where she was previously targeted by his misogyny.
In the post, Flanagan provided background and insight into the difficulties of producing immediate postgame coverage, attempting to get on-field interviews as players and coaches are running off the field. And after she worked Marshawn Lynch’s famous “Beast Quake” game on Jan. 8, 2011, Flanagan recalled Whitlock’s attempts of discrediting her ability to report from the sideline based on appearance.
“Alex Flanagan has no clue what she just watched. NBC knows that. They pay a producer to explain to her. Producer should be fired. Period,” Whitlock tweeted after Flanagan finished working the Seahawks-Saints 2011 playoff matchup.
“Fire Alex Flanagan’s sideline producer. Sideline Barbie didn’t ask Hasselbeck or Carroll about the whole team going downfield to block on “Hit & Run,” Whitlock added on social media.
Flanagan said not only has she never been fed a question by a producer, but for much of her career, she did not even have a sideline producer.
Flanagan offered the following response to Whitlock on that same day in 2011, “no problem if u don’t care 4 my ? But know I’m not ever fed them. Is it bc I’m a girl, u assume they come from my male counterpart?
P.s is the barbie comment a compliment? Because as my age, you take it as one.”
Whitlock responded – “U r attractive for any age and I like that u r a “real” and not offended by the Sideline Barbie comment.”
A year later, Whitlock offered a similar assessment of Flanagan’s sideline reporting and postgame questions.
“Talk to me about why someone at NBC/NFL Network won’t help Alex Flanagan with postgame questions. I blame her producers. She needs help. Job is to look good,” Whitlock tweeted after Flanagan finished working a Wild Card game between the Bengals and Texans.
This time, instead of only attempting a witty rebuttal on Twitter, Flanagan decided that after more than a year of criticism from Whitlock, she would invite him to join her on the sideline to see her responsibilities and suggest questions. Flanagan wrote in her blog post that she also invited Whitlock for a cup of coffee, but did not receive a response and similarly, he’s never introduced himself at one of the numerous events they collectively attended.
“The only thing he proved in this latest anti-female tirade is that if he had the courage to know me or any of the women he so willingly devalues, it would kill his dangerous spoon-fed barbie narrative, and then what would he do for attention?” Flanagan wrote.
