Troy Aikman rips Skip Bayless, says he’s ‘disappointed’ in Fox’s new hire
ESPN's controversial "First Take" show featuring Skip Bayless walks out onto the set at the Hard Rock Cafe in Manhattan on April 1, 2013. Credit: Uli Seit
Skip Bayless’ new debate show, “Undisputed,” made its debut on Fox Sports 1 Tuesday morning, but do not expect his Fox colleague Troy Aikman to send a congratulatory fruit basket.
Aikman, the network’s lead NFL analyst – he will work the Giants-Cowboys opener on Sunday – has disliked Bayless for years and was widely known around Fox for being angered by the hiring of him.
On Tuesday, Aikman’s disgust went public when SI.com published comments in which the Hall of Fame quarterback said, “To say I’m disappointed in the hiring of Skip Bayless would be an enormous understatement.”
He added, “Clearly, [Fox Sports president of national networks] Jamie Horowitz and I have a difference of opinion when it comes to building a successful organization. I believe success is achieved by acquiring and developing talented, respected and credible individuals, none of which applies to Skip Bayless.”
Horowitz was Bayless’ boss at ESPN when the two had success with the show “First Take,” to which “Undisputed” bears an extreme resemblance, with Shannon Sharpe and Joy Taylor joining Bayless on the set.
Bayless famously made an unsubstantiated assertion that Aikman is gay in his 1996 book on the Cowboys, “Hell-Bent.”
Aikman told SI.com in a 2015 interview, “I’m upset about it because it was made up and there was nothing accurate about anything that was insinuated. And he did it, as he does everything, just for attention.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
