Shane Gillis didn’t hold back during his ESPYs monologue Wednesday night — and predictably, left-wing ESPN personality Sarah Spain couldn’t handle it.
The comedian roasted people across the board, poking fun at everyone from President Donald Trump to Caitlin Clark.
But one bit in particular set off the outrage brigade.
Gillis joked about how few people can name WNBA players by staging a fake tribute to a nonexistent all-star.
The audience clapped along, not realizing the woman had never played in the league.
The punchline landed hard: You guys don’t even know who’s in the WNBA.
Compilation of the best Shane Gillis jokes from the ESPYs 🤣
Safe to say Shane will NOT be invited back 😭 pic.twitter.com/Cp0F18yFpf
— betr (@betr) July 17, 2025
The quip perfectly captured a truth sports media often tiptoes around — the league lacks public recognition, while sports stars are ready to virtue signal.
Gillis took no prisoners, calling out everyone from NBA champion Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to leftist former soccer star Megan Rapinoe.
Do you consume any content from ESPN?
Cue Sarah Spain.
Late Wednesday night, the ESPN commentator fumed on X.
“In a year of crazy growth for women’s sports choosing an ESPYs host who doesn’t even try to make clever jokes about women athletes (he at least *attempted* for the men) he goes with hacky ‘no one knows the WNBA’ bits, ‘Pinoe is a bad time” & repeatedly insults Black women. COOL.”
In a year of crazy growth for women’s sports choosing an ESPYs host who doesn’t even try to make clever jokes about women athletes (he at least *attempted* for the men) he goes with hacky “no one knows the WNBA” bits, “Pinoe is a bad time” & repeatedly insults Black women. COOL.
— Sarah Spain (@SarahSpain) July 17, 2025
The rant was long on moral outrage and short on humor — kind of like ESPN in recent years.
Spain, a reliably left-wing voice at the network, has a history of letting her ideology dictate her takes.
As OutKick noted, she once called Tampa Bay Rays players “bigots” for not wearing LGBT “pride” rainbow patches.
She also liked tweets accusing fellow ESPN host Sam Ponder of “bigotry” for defending women’s sports from men.
And in a 2022 industry interview, she dismissed ESPN’s core audience of “old white dudes,” saying they’d “die” and leave no one behind.
Given that history, it’s no surprise Spain couldn’t handle Gillis’ jokes.
But judging by the laughs he got and the reaction online, plenty of viewers could.
Sometimes the truth hurts. Especially when it’s funny.
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