Linda Cohn was one of the longest-tenured and most prolific anchors of ESPN’s SportsCenter, hosting more than 5,000 episodes since 1992. She was on the air through the rise of cable sports, the social media era, and countless NFL Sundays. Few people know ESPN’s halls as well as she does, but recently the predicament she revealed about former President John Skipper has raised eyebrows among the onlookers.

During an appearance on The Sage Steele Show, Cohn detailed her 2017 suspension from ESPN. She explained that after she publicly criticized the network’s direction following a round of layoffs, Skipper called her, and that phone call left her “devastated.”

“I was shocked. I was devastated,” Cohn said on Sage Steele Podcast. “It never happened to me. [And who was it?] Skipper. And Skipper didn’t ever before that he may have said three words to me at a banquet when it was like my 20th anniversary…but that was the only time I had talked to John Skipper like more than three words, and then the next thing I know, after I did an innocent radio interview…and then he gets on the phone, and he’s yelling at me.

“And now, when I look back on it, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was on something because he sounded not right. He was yelling at me. He was bullying me…I really had no idea what he was talking about. I couldn’t believe it…And then, I was suspended for whatever, you know, don’t come in. But I was really upset. I was close to tears. I don’t like being bullied, Sage. And I definitely don’t like being bullied for no reason.”

John Skipper served as the President of ESPN from January 2012 to December 2017. At that time, Linda Cohn was the premier studio host and anchor for SportsCenter.

However, an appearance on WABC’s Bernie and Sid Show in April 2017 has somewhat begun Cohn’s clash with the former ESPN president. During the appearance, when Cohn was asked if ESPN’s public perception of a left-wing political bias is driving away viewers, she made a strong response.

“That is definitely a percentage of it,” Cohn said on the Show. “I don’t know how big a percentage, but if anyone wants to ignore that fact, they’re blind.”

Infuriated by her public comments during a corporate crisis, the then-ESPN President John Skipper reportedly bypassed HR and called Linda Cohn directly on her mobile phone.

According to Cohn, Skipper screamed at and aggressively berated her, leaving her shell-shocked, close to tears, and with a sense of feeling bullied. Skipper placed Cohn on a short-term suspension from her SportsCenter anchoring duties while ESPN PR publicly downplayed the incident as merely telling her to “take a day off.”

However, in September 2017, another controversy erupted when SportsCenter co-anchor Jemele Hill called President Donald Trump a “white supremacist” on X.

Compared to the Linda Cohn incident, John Skipper decided not to suspend Hill, which drew intense public scrutiny and allegations of a massive double standard regarding how Cohn was treated.

In December 2017, Skipper abruptly resigned from ESPN. As for Cohn, she continued her job after suspension till June 2026, when she announced her retirement and left ESPN after a 34-year career.

Following her ESPN exit, Linda Cohn spoke out publicly for the first time on the Awful Announcing Podcast about John Skipper and the nature of her suspension, where she noted that Skipper used an “awful, disrespectful, and bullying tone” during their conversation.

After that, during her recent conversation with Sage Steele, Cohn discussed or levied bullying accusations for the second time. Meanwhile, Skipper has yet to address the claims against him.