The Jason Whitlock and Katie Nolan Feud Briefly Explained

By Dustin Rowles | Social Media | January 3, 2024 |

By Dustin Rowles | Social Media | January 3, 2024 |

Jason Whitlock is a sports columnist and podcaster. He used to be a big deal on ESPN and Fox Sports, where he often said things that got him in trouble. Now he is a conservative columnist for The Blaze, a media company founded by Glenn Beck. He is a Trump supporter, Black, and often complains about racism against white people. Last year, he released a two-hour video questioning whether Michelle Obama was trans.

Katie Nolan is a popular sports personality who has also worked for ESPN and Fox Sports and has hosted a number of podcasts. More recently, she has worked for Apple TV+ Friday night baseball and for NBC Sports. She’s also appeared in three episodes of Drunk History and is engaged to comedian Dan Soder.

Whitlock and Nolan’s feud began around 2020, and the short version is that Jason Whitlock is a conservative male, and Katie Nolan is a woman. He has argued repeatedly that Katie Nolan is only popular because she is attractive. The feud between Whitlock and Nolan is largely one-sided (unlike Whitlock, Nolan’s whole schtick is not grievance-based).

There’s your context for what happened two days ago when Whitlock tweeted this (while many have left Twitter, sports Twitter unfortunately keeps it afloat):

For those unfamiliar with how Internet advertising works, ads are algorithmically targeted to individuals based on interests they have cultivated as evidenced by their browser histories. If an individual visits an online store that sells handbags, handbags are likely to follow that user around as they browse other sites. The ad Whitlock posted suggests that his browser history likely includes sites frequented by gay men, which suggests that Whitlock’s moral outrage over an ad on ESPN is telling.

Collectively, the Internet thought this was hysterical. Katie Nolan was among them. She retweeted Whitlock’s tweet and added in a separate tweet that did not tag Jason Whitlock, “Sorry to retweet him, it’s just there are tears running down my face. happy new year, all.”

While all of sports Twitter was mocking Whitlock, he chose to single out Nolan because he is a conservative male and she is a woman. He tweeted, “Katie, you should’ve learned to leave me alone. It’s not my fault you couldn’t Kamala Harris your way to the top of ESPN or Fox Sports. You gave it your best shot. Every simp in sports media wanted to be your Willie Brown. Don’t blame me. It was you.”

For those who don’t understand the Kamala Harris/Willie Brown reference, Jason Whitlock (a conservative man) is suggesting that Katie Nolan (a woman) attempted to sleep her way up the ladder and that there were many male executives who were willing to sleep with her.

“the whole internet is laughing at you and you respond to me. how is this possible? appropriate?” Katie Nolan tweeted in response. “I’m not deep enough in the lore to understand what you’re even trying to say here, but I forgive you for it. Because WWJD. If you’d like me to unretweet the thing you yourself tweeted, or take down the tweet that doesn’t even mention you by name, please let me know.”

This has been another edition of aggrieved and humiliated conservative male takes his anger and embarrassment out on a woman.