Fans Calling For Major Changes To ESPN After 'Barry Sanders' Disaster

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Fans Calling For Major Changes To ESPN After 'Barry Sanders' Disaster originally appeared on The Spun.
Fans are calling for major changes to ESPN in the wake of the network's disastrous "Barry Sanders" embarrassment.
Monica McNutt was playing host to ESPN's "First Take" earlier this week, when she welcomed comedian Druski onto the show. Druski, known for his social media sketch videos, is also an avid sports fan. He appeared on the show, starring Stephen A. Smith, in one of his favorite sports jerseys.
The "First Take" host, filling in for Molly Qerim, had quite the embarrassing moment on the air. She seemed to think that Druski's No. 20 Sanders jersey was a reference to Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
Video of McNutt referring to Druski's jersey as a Shedeur Sanders reference went viral on social media.
"It's a blast to have you here, thank you so much for joining us. The jersey, obviously, ties to Shedeur Sanders..."
Druski was quick to respond: "No, no, no, no, no. This is, uh, Barry Sanders."
It's unclear if McNutt was making a bad joke or if she truly didn't know who Barry Sanders is. The Detroit Lions and the Cleveland Browns have extremely different colors. Barry Sanders wears No. 20, while Shedeur Sanders wears No. 12.
Perhaps Monica McNutt thought that he was wearing a Deion Sanders jersey? Coach Prime rocked No. 21 during his career and he played for the Dallas Cowboys, who wear navy blue jerseys.
Fans are demanding changes to ESPN
In the wake of Monica McNutt's embarrassing mistake, many ESPN fans are calling for changes to the company, suggesting that there needs to be stricter rules surrounding who appears on prominent shows like "First Take."
"How did she get a job on a sports network?" one fan wrote.
"Absolutely insane for Druski to make a political statement like this endorsing Bernie Sanders. Please keep politics out of sports," one fan joked.
"This is nuts 😂😂😂 blue jersey with the #20 and sanders and she thought it was Shedeur. Like damn you could've guessed Deion and that would've been better lol," one fan added.
"Was this part of a skit, or did she legitimately not know??" one fan added.
Others, meanwhile, are suggesting that ESPN needs to "end" its DEI policies.
"While an inexcusable lack of knowledge for an ESPN host, we aren't surprised. ESPN is no longer in the business of promoting accomplished journalists with backgrounds covering the sports on which they commentate on television. Instead, the vast majority of recent ESPN hires were lucky enough to be born with the "right" skin color (not white), have the "right" type of social media following (impress Black Twitter and the New York Times), and the "right" opinions (everything is racist)," Outkick wrote.
"Commentators who fall into this category don't understand the history of sports or the legends before them. They mostly only know of the athletes who trend on social media, like Shedeur Sanders. We seriously wonder if McNutt would recognize a No. 18 Indianapolis Colts jersey. Our guess: she would have to really think about it."
McNutt has stayed quiet
The prominent ESPN personality has yet to address her controversy. She last posted on social media on July 26.
It seems unlikely that she will address it.
Does ESPN need to make a change, though?
Fans Calling For Major Changes To ESPN After 'Barry Sanders' Disaster first appeared on The Spun on Aug 17, 2025
This story was originally reported by The Spun on Aug 17, 2025, where it first appeared.