'Around the Horn' panelist questions if ESPN canceled show due to potential 'woke' label

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Friday will mark the final episode of a longtime ESPN staple, as "Around the Horn" will be off the airwaves for good after roughly two decades of action.

Jay Mariotti, who was a regular on the show until his domestic violence arrest in 2010, said in a recent interview that the show is being canceled because it went "woke."

But another panelist, Sarah Spain, questioned whether the network canceled the show, because they would be "scared" of being labeled as such.

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Disney partnered with PENN Entertainment to create ESPN-branded sportsbooks.  (Mike Windle/Getty Images for ESPN)

"It confounds me that they are canceling it. The format allows for a continuous stream of new people, to highlight reporters on your network. I’m admittedly biased, but this is progressive voices and people of color you’re taking off TV. I don’t know for sure that’s their intention, but are you so scared of getting called ‘woke’?" she said in an interview with The Washington Post.

Tony Reali, the longtime host of the show, said he did not "believe" that was the reason.

"I don’t believe what that is. I honestly think we did 50,000 topics over 23 years. You’re going to tell me 10 or 15 drew an eyebrow up? I’ll be like, ‘Yeah, we were doing some complex topics from time to time.’ I don’t mute people in Face Time, so maybe there’s two or three there that didn’t have the back-and-forth that you’d want. Maybe there’s one or two I’d take back if you ask me; those aren’t my regrets. Not at all," he said on "The Dan Patrick Show" recently.

ESPN laid off roughly 20 prominent on-air personalities.   (Kevin Abele/Icon