NASCAR Nationwide driver Blake Koch is trading paint with ESPN over his ad advocating voter registration. The network refused to run the ad and as a result Koch lost his sponsor Rise Up & Register.
Koch told Fox News the reason ESPN refused the ad is because of his religious convictions and provides a voicemail he received from ESPN’s Rosa Gatti, senior vice president of corporate outreach in February. Since the denial of the ad, ESPN has backpedaled and issued this statement Thursday: “The spot did not meet our guidelines in regard to advocacy messaging. Blake’s personal religious beliefs played no role in our evaluation.”
Take a look at the ad and watch the Fox News story. The ad clearly is not political or religious. It asks viewers to register to vote. What do you think?
Koch is clearly a Christian, but so is Tim Tebow, so I’m a little confused at ESPN’s reasoning for denying the ad.
there is an I Support Blake Koch facebook page and blog now.…go get’em Blake
http://www.isupportblakekoch.com
Ms. Somers: At this point, this is a he said-she said situation, with the difference being that Koch says that Gatti actually addresses his faith in the voicemail, which she denies in the ESPN statement. Can you say with confidence that the voicemail, if revealed, would back Koch up?
the voicemail is what started this whole thing, they played the voicemail on fox news chanel wednesday march 28, 8:20 eastern time… the voicemail by Mrs Gatti says exactly that.. look it up