ESPN Suspends Bill Simmons After He Dared Sports Network to Tell Him to Tone It Down

UPDATE — 9:45 p.m. ET: ESPN has pulled the page hosting the podcast where Bill Simmons calls NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a "liar," dares sports network to tell him to tone it down.

404: ESPN has pulled the podcast page where Simmons called Goodell a liar https://t.co/GYOyEKg3yJ

— Jon Passantino (@passantino) September 25, 2014

No mention of Bill Simmons suspension on ESPN sister network https://t.co/q08c20M9d9 or its sports page https://t.co/JmMMiBFHdd

— Jon Passantino (@passantino) September 25, 2014

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ESPN issued a three-week suspension to sports commentator Bill Simmons, over recent comments he made about NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

“Every employee must be accountable to ESPN and those engaged in our editorial operations must also operate within ESPN’s journalistic standards," ESPN said in a statement. "We have worked hard to ensure that our recent NFL coverage has met that criteria."

"Bill Simmons did not meet those obligations in a recent podcast, and as a result we have suspended him for three weeks," the statement concluded.

ESPN suspends Bill Simmons for profanity-laced podcast about Roger Goodell https://t.co/Em5L7zjwYR pic.twitter.com/fpgpWhNhBZ

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) September 24, 2014

In a podcast Monday, Simmons called Goodell a "liar."

“I’m just saying it. He is lying. I think that dude is lying. If you put him up on a lie detector test that guy would fail," he said, according to NBC Sports. "For all these people to pretend they didn’t know is such f**king bulls**t. It really is. It’s such f**king bulls**t. And for him to go in that press conference and pretend otherwise, I was so insulted. I really was.”

The sports commentator then dared ESPN to go after him.

“I really hope somebody calls me or emails me and says I’m in trouble for anything I say about Roger Goodell,” Simmons said. “Because if one person says that to me, I’m going public. You leave me alone. The Commissioner’s a liar and I get to talk about that on my podcast. ... Please, call me and say I’m in trouble. I dare you.”

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