Former NFL running back Craig James was once among the most prominent broadcasters in college football. But now he can’t seem to find a job at all.
James, who left his job calling college football at ESPN to run for the United States Senate in his home state of Texas, has failed in his attempt to return to broadcasting because of anti-gay comments he made during that Senate campaign.
During his campaign, James criticized another candidate for attending a gay pride parade, promised he would never do such a thing, and said that being gay is a choice and that gay people “are going to have to answer to the Lord for their actions.” ESPN confirmed shortly after James made those comments that James (who finished a distant fourth with 4 percent of the vote in the Republican primary) would not be welcome back at the network.
At the start of this college football season, FOX Sports Southwest announced that James would be one of its college football commentators. But a week later, James was out. And now FOX has confirmed that those anti-gay comments are the reason.
“We just asked ourselves how Craig’s statements would play in our human resources department,” a FOX spokesman told the Dallas Morning News. “He couldn’t say those things here.”
James played his entire five-year career for the Patriots and was a Pro Bowler in 1985, when he helped lead New England to the Super Bowl.