ESPN pulls documentary on Kevin Johnson

ESPN, as Rivlin-Nadler notes, has a long history of being caught between its role as a news agency and its role as a network in the business of buying the rights to sporting events and using them to extract huge carriage fees from cable companies, and hasn’t always done the best to balance the two.

“At a minimum, I think he needs to not seek re-election”, Asbury said.

A media release from the Mayor’s office says he will soon decide whether to run for a third term. “Politics is a game that throws out dirty things along the way and you’ve got to take hits on the chin”. No question Kevin Johnson as mayor since 2008 has been a big part of that story.

“It’s unfortunate that stories like this continue to come forward”, the mayor said outside the Crest Theatre, where the ESPN documentary was shown at a premiere sponsored by the Kings.

Democratic Political Strategist, and Johnson’s former campaign manager, Steve Maviglio said unlike the Democratic Party, people are willing to look beyond the allegations because Johnson has done a lot for the city. The feud dates back to 2003, when Johnson’s nonprofit St. Hope organization was awarded control of Sacramento High School and began operating the campus as a charter school employing non-union teachers. The documentary follows the city’s quest to keep the Sacramento Kings from relocating.

The film focuses exclusively on Johnson for its final hour, letting him provide the play-by-play of the procedures involved in convincing the National Basketball Association to not let any new ownership move the team…

The decision to postpone the film comes after recent articles on Deadspin reporting on both the alleged sexual misconduct allegations against Johnson and alleged financial investigations.

Deitsch is referring to an article by Dave McKenna of Deadspin, in which Mandi Koba described how Johnson – then a star point guard for the Suns – sexually assaulted her as a 16-year-old in 1996. No charges were ever filed. Johnson denied any wrongdoing, though there was a $230,000 financial settlement between Johnson and his accuser. “We know what is out there and we acknowledge that it is out there and we want to make sure that it is clear to everyone that we are responsible how we handle the story”.