People tend of mellow oftentimes as they grow older…
Take former KC Star bad boy (and rival columnist) Jason Whitlock.
Ah, but the artist who-called-himself Big Sexy has bounced around plenty since leaving the newspaper a year or two after I did 10 or so years ago. He’s managed to land some reasonably sexy gigs on ESPN and Fox before parting ways – usually somewhat abruptly.
More recently, the middle-aged Whitlock has been plighting his trough at conservative firebrand Glenn Beck‘s Blaze Media. That after making several appearances on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson and other conservative media shows weighing in on sports and conservative politics.
On one of Whitlock’s recent podcast / online shows – Fearless with Jason Whitlock -he decided to purge himself of some of the vices Star readers knew him best for.
“One of the things that has really bothered me in the last couple of years – it’s like this Lizzo, this singer Lizzo, comes out of nowhere and she looks to be 300, 320 pounds or so. And I’m looking at mainstream media and the left try to normalize her obesity.
“Obviously, I have an obesity problem and I don’t want this normalized. I don’t think it’s healthy. And it’s like, everything they seem to be pushing seems to be connected to death. The lifespan of ever weight people, much shorter – that’s just a fact – so I don’t understand why there would be any motivation, how someone could see it as healthy. Hey, let’s tell overweight people that this is great and they shouldn’t feel any sort of way about it. And you should feel good about being overweight. And you go girl and you go Jason. It’s crazy.”
Remember those stripper chicks with Jason that were posted online?
“I’ve lived a promiscuous lifestyle,” Whitlock continues. “I’m not wagging a finger like I’m free of this sins. But it’s not healthy. We see all the complications from it. One of the main reasons why marriages have a much shorter lifespan than they used to is because everybody thinks they should be Hugh Hefner and should be swingers…
“And the promiscuous lifestyle – when you go to these neighborhoods that have a bunch of kids outside of marriage – what do you see in those neighborhoods? Shootings and death. Everything they seem to be promoting seems to lead to death…and that’s why I think it’s unhealthy for us to be trying to pretend like Lizzo is some sort of sex symbol and that overweigh little girls should aspire to be Lizzo.”
See what I mean?
But the confession I’ve yet to hear out of Sir Jason – that much of his early column writing career in Kansas City was cribbed off former Platte County Landmark sports scribe Greg Hall.
I remember – as I think does Landmark publisher Ivan Foley – Whitlock appropriating entire passages of Hall’s clever writings that he’d shared in advance with Jason. Before Greg could turn them in for his own Sunday Star column that IO’d set him up to write, Whitlock would use them under his byline and give Greg money.
Years later, after they’d had a falling out, Greg called Jason out for it and the Star and Mike Fannin sicced their lawyers on the Landmark for letting Greg write about it.
Here’s holding our breath until we see Jason bring that moment of truth to light.
The $64 million dollar question going forward:
What happens to Whitlock’s longtime love affair with Gates Bar-B-Que?
I remember when Jason left KC several years back and consigned his weight set to a fitness retailer in Rosana Square. The owner showed it to me and explained that it took a ton of cleaning to scrub all the BBQ sauce off it before putting it up for resale.
What an image…
Big Sexy working out while scarfing down slabs of Gate’s finest.
Ah, those were the days
Jason, love him or hate him, either way he’s entertaining.
Yeah, and clearly he is changing – having some second thoughts – now that’s he is older and probably facing some health issues himself5
He is absolutely right about the normalization of morbid obesity. It is a death sentence, and for the media to be encouraging — even glamorizing — it is nothing more and nothing less than rank misogyny. And it gives dangerously obese women a rationale for not doing something about their health. Old Navy, the Discovery Channel, etc. so many media instances of this hateful messaging is disturbing. And most women are afraid to speak out about it for fear of being labeled jealous, or racist, or “weightist” if their is such a thing, or female misogynists.
Pretty much agree with you…
Interesting though, that after years of celebrating his own obesity and chasing strippers, Whitlock has begun to look at things differently
The one on the left is either missing a finger or throwing the shocker symbol.
“cribbed off former Platte County Landmark sports scribe Greg Hall”
– Jason’s sedative of choice bbq in lieu Joe’s pea mash aside, the erstwhile Whitlock a more rotund if less accomplished plagiarist a hopelessly compromised Biden: former thinks he’s a star, latter believes unvaxxed should wear a yellow one… neither correct.
I was the biggest critic of Jason Whitlock there was. For every one water cooler column, he would write about the Chiefs, college football or college basketball he would write three about EA NCAA Football, UMKC basketball or talking about Tiger Woods when Tom Watson is in the lead going into Sunday at the British Open. Whitlock as a Star columnist was 60/40 genius and lazy.
But even I have to admit, I like his stuff on The Blaze. Just with his past history, I have a feeling it won’t last that long. Maybe he grew up and learned his lesson with Fox and Outkick. But I would not be shocked if a year from now he’s gone looking for someplace else.