Shaun White did not compete in the 2016 Aspen Winter X Games. "He wasn't invited," X Games spokesman Danny Chi told the Denver Post in January. For two weeks, that was the only information. The decision seemed to come out of nowhere.
But last week, Sports Business Daily reported the decision to exclude White was based on 'disparaging comments' he made while promoting his event Air + Style at the Forbes Under 30 summit.
As a professional snowboarder, White had been on the top of his game. In December, amidst steep competition, he won the Dew Tour at Breckenridge
When asked about Air + Style, White responded, saying "The X Games was planning on expanding their reach and going global with all these events around the world. I went to all these meetings with them and I got all the way down the road to do this big deal and it never really panned. So I said 'wow, this is perfect. They don't want to do this with me and im going to go out alone and set out and do what I want to do."
Disparaging? Not really.
White, however, went on unprompted: "Then [the X Games] expand globally. It was a huge failure. They didn't change their marketing plan. They used all the same announcers, the same people, the same competitors every time around the world."
Are these remarks enough to disinvite one of the best, if unpopular, snowboarder in the world? Ben Fisher bases his article for Sports Business Journal on unnamed "multiple sources" at ESPN.
If these claims are true, it carries great significance for the reputation of ESPN. It would mean that they, in the interest of business competition, excluded potential winners. Their reputation as one of the top snow sports events in the world would be tarnished.
Meanwhile, White is unsure if he'll compete in the Oslo X Games at the end of February.
"If I'm allowed to go help X Games launch an event for the first time in Norway but I'm not invited to X Games in Aspen, I don't know," White said, according to USA Today. "I don't know whats really happening on their side of things. I was uninvited. It's a peculiar situation to be in, I guess."
