Audio: Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports Calls Jason Whitlock of Fox Sports a Coward

By Cam Martin 

Yahoo! Sports sports reporter Charles Robinson has been widely lauded for his 11-month investigation of former booster Nevin Shapiro and the illegal benefits he allegedly bestowed on legions of University of Miami football players. Brooks Melchior of Sports by Brooks and Gregg Doyel of CBS Sports were among the many who read Robinson’s captivating tale about the purported gifts of money, jewelry, prostitutes and alcohol and suggested he was worthy of winning the Pulitzer Prize. Jason Whitlock of Fox Sports wasn’t of the same opinion, questioning Robinson’s journalistic ethics, saying he relied too much on the words of a convicted felon, Shapiro, who is spending 20 years in jail for running a $930 million Ponzi scheme.

Perhaps the oddest assertion in Whitlock’s attempted takedown of Robinson’s piece is that the story didn’t include any tales of cocaine-fueled debauchery, which makes no sense (at least to Whitlock) when the story is set in “America’s Cocaine Capital” and features a bevy of prostitutes. (“Peanut butter and jelly have nothing on hookers, partying, cash and drugs. They’re birds of a feather,” Whitlock wrote.)

Robinson, for his part, said in an interview on Nick Wright’s 610Sports radio show in Kansas City that speculating about drug use was something he wasn’t prepared to do. Unlike Whitlock, Robinson said he actually investigates stories, rather than sitting on his couch tossing around ignorant speculation about the work of dedicated journalists. To top it off, Robinson called Whitlock a coward.

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Here’s the clip, via Sportsgrid.

Whitlock, in turn, offered today to have Robinson on his podcast to discuss the issue.

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