We haven’t heard much from former Eagles defensive end Hugh Douglas since he was fired by ESPN, amid allegations he threatened to beat up a co-worker, using racial slurs along the way.
But Douglas has broken his silence, telling former NFL tight end Luther Broughton and Micah Warren on Cheap Shots (you can listen to the full interview here) that he wasn’t drunk at the time of the incident. But he did admit “it was certainly a party atmosphere.”
Douglas admitted a confrontation after he tried to climb on-stage along with former co-hosts Michael Smith and Jemele Hill.
[Smith] says ‘Don’t you ever effing do that again,’” Douglas said. “And so I looked at him and I’m like ‘Mike what’s the matter?’ And he walks away, so I walked behind him. And I’m like ‘Dude, what’s going on?’ So, he stopped and he’s talking to this young lady. So I walk up to Michael and I whisper in his ear. I said ‘Mike, don’t you ever talk to me like that again, because I will beat your M F’ing A.’ Just like that.”
Douglas insisted he wasn’t mad at Smith, though the incident led to his firing.
“You know how they say you’re supposed to be able to identify snakes? Didn’t see that one coming. That one’s on me,” Douglas said. “I thought our relationship was more than what it was. You know, I thought we were cool, bottom line. But, we weren’t, so.”
The initial incident didn’t exactly make Douglas more marketable, and I’m not sure the explanation did either.
But Douglas was always willing to offer bold opinions (which is how he ended up talking for a living), so he’s at least getting back in the mix of offering them.