Chris “Mad Dog” Russo believes Molly Qerim left ESPN before her contract expired at the end of this year because she didn’t want to finish the year as a “lame duck” with a potential “demotion” on the horizon.
During an appearance on the “SI Media podcast” with Jimmy Traina this week, Russo explained that he was “shocked” by the “First Take” host’s abrupt departure last month — and he “assumed” she left “embarrassed” over the optics of exiting the popular show.
“I think she precipitated it. … I think, probably, she felt embarrassed,” Russo, who’s a regular analyst on “First Take,” said. “I didn’t talk to her about the specifics of why she decided as soon as it was in the Sports Business Journal, but that’s what I’m thinking — that she probably would have felt embarrassed if the world would have thought that she was a lame duck and she was still doing the show. So, that I think that probably had a little something to do with it.”
Russo explained that he was “very surprised” when Stephen A. Smith called him to share the news that Qerim would be leaving “on the night before” her exit.
“I did not speak to Molly prior. I’ve had sone conversation with her since. She was on air a long time. I think they probably wanted to move her around a little bit and try something different,” Russo said.
“Not that the ratings were bad, it’s just the nature of the beast. You’re on air forever, they like to make a change for making a change’s sake. I think they wanted to keep Molly with the network, and I don’t know if Molly wanted to do that. Because I think Molly probably looked at as, ‘If I’m not going to do ‘First Take,’ I don’t want to do ‘SportsCenter.’ So she probably felt that that would be a demotion, I would assume.”
Russo said that Qerim was “very important” to the success of “First Take” success and described her and Smith’s relationship as “a big brother, little sister deal.”
“I did not know that was occurring. I was shocked — I went to work on Wednesday [and] they had scrubbed her off all the promos and they’re mad about stuff … she was off,” Russo said. “It tells you the quickness of television. If you’re gone, they get you out in 10 minutes.”
Qerim hosted “First Take” for 10 years and worked at the network since 2005.
She announced her departure from ESPN on her Instagram Story last month, adding the news “came out earlier than I intended.”
Her post came hours after Sports Business Journal reported that she turned down ESPN’s offer for a new contract and will depart the company at the end of the year.
In an interview with The Athletic last month, Burke Magnus, ESPN’s president of content, explained that prior to Qerim announcing her departure from the Worldwide Leader, both sides had already determined that she would be taken off of “First Take” when her contract expired at the end of 2025.
Magnus shared they were in renewal conversations with Qerim, who he felt wanted to “explore other things” — and in the end, “we just weren’t totally aligned.”
Magnus made it clear that ESPN wanted Qerim to stay at the company.
He said the company will take 30 to 45 days to try out a variety of candidates for the “First Take” hosting role, adding, “I don’t know if it’ll be someone in-house or not.”
So far, Amina Smith, MJ Acosta Ruiz, Peter Schrager and Shae Cornett have been serving as rotating hosts.
Last week, former NFL All-Pro defensive end Marcellus Wiley, who previously co-hosted the show “SportsNation” with Qerim, said she was making around $500,000 a year at ESPN.
Wiley said that Qerim felt “a certain type of way” that Smith — who is an executive producer on “First Take,” and making $21 million on his new deal — didn’t go to bat for her.