Men read horrifying, sexist tweets to female sports reporters’ faces

On his nightly ABC talk show, Jimmy Kimmel has a lot of fun with the mean tweets people write, usually pseudonymously, about famous people online. It’s an excuse for endearing self-parody and self-effacement as the slandered celebrities read said tweets aloud and react honestly to them. The podcast Just Not Sports attempted something both similar and strikingly different recently with a startling PSA in which men read abusive tweets directly to female sports journalists. The brave reporters here, ESPN’s Sarah Spain and Sports Illustrated contributor Julie DiCaro, had screened the comments in advance, the video explains. The men reading the tweets had not. The point of the four-minute PSA is that women in sports are subject to a considerable amount of prejudice and verbal abuse, especially now that faceless, nameless users are able to spew bile on social media without any real consequences. The video starts off on a lighthearted note, much like a Kimmel segment. One comment made to DiCaro goes: “I’d like to start a petition for a ban on all links to Julie DiCaro’s Twitter feed.” Okay, fair enough. But, then, the video takes a decided turn. Just watch.