ESPN suspends Bill Simmons from Twitter

ESPN temporarily suspended Bill Simmons, the marquee columnist and editor of the network’s Grantland site, from using Twitter. The suspension follows Simmons’ critical tweets of ESPN’s show “First Take” over a recent heated argument between its host Skip Bayless and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman ESPN just confirmed the suspension to The Hollywood Reporter after rival sports site Deadspin first reported on it via anonymous sources. The Reporter claims his suspension will end tomorrow. This is the second time ESPN has suspended Simmons from Twitter following an earlier incident in 2009.

In a series of tweets on March 8, Simmons called the Sherman-Bayless segment on “First Take” “awful and embarrassing to everyone involved.” ESPN social media guidelines specifically forbid employees from criticizing the network on social media, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The tweets were still up at the time of this post’s publication.