Ryan Clark has never been one to let a false narrative sit unanswered, and that instinct kicked in the moment ESPN’s version of events started making the rounds. This was something he did at the first opportunity to correct an ESPN story of events. Being dismissed from the air live was one thing; not being explained by the network was quite another. Clark was determined to clarify the issue.

“Let me put this to bed,” Clark said on The Pivot podcast. “I wasn’t laid off. I was fired, right? They’re using layoffs as a cover and a camouflage for what they already intended on doing, but there was no cause for it, right? So because there was no cause for it, you couldn’t just fire me, so you had to wait for the layoff so you could camouflage it and veil it, right? But here’s the other thing. If I was laid off like everybody else, they came out on Tuesday. Mine came out on Friday.”

Ryan Clark showed up to NFL Live on Monday like it was any other day at the office. But he was let go before the show was taped fully. ESPN was expected to break the news to Clark on Tuesday morning. However, since there had been reports from the media, the network did not want to take any chances with Clark finding out from elsewhere, according to Sports Business Journal’s Richard Deitsch.

Then came the cleanup narrative. TMZ reported that Clark “wasn’t forced” off the show, framing it as a mutual decision both sides were fine with. Clark wasn’t going to let that stand.

“I wasn’t forced? I ask, ‘should I be done now?'” he wrote on X. “The answer was ‘yes.'”

According to the internal memo circulated by ESPN among employees, the network claimed the acquisition of NFL Network had forced it to make some “difficult decisions.”

“While most of the job impacts are tied to the acquisition, we will also notify colleagues in other parts of the company today that their positions have been impacted,” the memo, sent by ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro, read. “We are committed to treating employees with compassion and respect and to providing support as they navigate this transition.”

He also used his own podcast, The Pivot, to shut down another theory floating around: that friction with co-host Peter Schrager played a role. Clark said that’s not what happened, insisting the two are on good terms.

“Me and Peter don’t have an issue,” he said. “I would think if you asked him right now, obviously after what went on with us, there’s been nobody that’s been nicer to him.”

Between the shifting timeline and the conflicting explanations, it’s fair to wonder how much ESPN actually had figured out before pulling the trigger.