Dan Le Batard looked at himself in the mirror while explaining that he was “disgusted” and “embarrᴀssed” for his skewed coverage of Tyreek Hill, specifically after the Chiefs traded the All-Pro receiver to the Dolphins in March 2022.
During Thursday’s installment of “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz,” the Meadowlark Media co-founder discussed Hill’s reported domestic dispute with his wife Keeta Hill on Monday, when their 5-month daughter was present.
Le Batard was visibly frustrated with himself and the Miami media for looking past Hill’s transgressions and other incidents off of the field to celebrate his speed and skills in the NFL.
“The man has proven to be dangerous to women and children and we’ve known it for a very long time,” Le Batard said. “That part has not been any kind of secret. We have forgiven it because he’s fast and great at football and he rose right to the top of football and he’s a menace, who, even, if theres another side to what happened this time, what about all the other times that you can’t just be trusted to be mature, not reckless, foolish.
“Its happened so much that I’m embarrᴀssed of by the way we’ve covered him in retrospect because this happening again with an actual baby …
“I know I’m woke and moralist guy… I’m telling you on the front end, I’ve covered this person poorly. Obviously poorly,” Le Batard said, before looking back at covering Hill when he first arrived in Miami after the Chiefs trade.
Le Batard explained that Hill “was going to do our podcast and I was going to do his” at the time, but things didn’t work out because he wanted to ask Hill questions about “certain things” off of the field.
“Welcome to how media and athletes interact as athletes take over and athletes get the power everywhere because they can turn on a microphone and their fandom is huge,” Le Batard said. “… He can keep trying to rehabilitate himself and football and sports will enable him because we made him a star… I’m guilty of it. I’m looking in a mirror and I don’t like what I see… I feel like an a–hole too…
“… Coming in here, we were all part of Tyreek Hill’s cleanup. This is a person that we have seen all of this play out in public. He has become a star, he has become a star in Miami. He represents this city and he represents this city this sh—y.
“… Look, we laundered him. Come on, man! Come on! Like Miami did some laundering here. We know what this is. It’s fast. We like it. It makes us feel good. We’ll snort it, we’ll snort it… Look what happens when you got a fast guy that’s faster than everyone else. And he gets arrested outside the stadium… he’s crooning wildly throughout Miami… I am embarrᴀssed looking back at the last three years… I want to look in the mirror and be disgusted by myself.”
Le Batard added that he ᴀssumed Hill, who’s recently become the subject of trade rumors, will get traded to another team for a “fresh start.”
In a promo clip from the episode, Le Batard looked in the mirror while he called himself a “bitch” who “has failed Miami as a journalist.”
On Monday, Hill was holding his daughter on the 35th-floor balcony of his high-rise condominium in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla. during a reported domestic dispute with his wife Keeta, as seen in footage obtained by by Local 10 News.
Keeta filed for divorce one day after the incident, according to county records.
The Sunny Isles Beach Police Department responded to a report of an “ᴀssault in progress” just before 2 p.m. after Keeta’s mother, Alesia Vaccaro, called 911 because she said she feared for her daughter’s safety, according to an incident report.
Vaccaro — who described the 31-year-old Hill as “very aggressive and impulsive” with “anger issues” — said she called police after she witnessed him throw a laptop on the floor and walk toward the balcony with her granddaughter.
Hill and Keeta said things did not turn physical, and police made no arrests in the incident.
AP
Police said the couple’s daughter appeared to be in good health, adding they did notice Keeta had a bruise on her upper chest.
Le Batard also brought up the bruise on his podcast and repeatedly said Hill “is a danger to women and children.”