The Athlete Lifestyle logo

$250M Spotify bully Bill Simmons crushes ESPN, Pablo Torre in odd rants

The ex-ESPN star and Spotify podcast mogul, who signed a new deal with the audio giant after making $250M for The Ringer, has gotten extremely petty lately.
Matthew Graham|
IMAGO/Depositphotos

Journalism on journalism take downs are tough to tolerate in 2025.

One of the biggest offenders is Bill Simmons, who has made a fortune becoming a podcast superstar and media mogul, selling The Ringer for around $250 million to the audio giant Spotify, and continuing that successful relationship by extending his deal with a new contract in March as the Head of Talk Strategy, overseeing The Ringer, Spotify Studios and all new and original content.

RELATED: Tyrese Haliburton’s girlfriend Jade rips Knicks in mocking cheer, taunting fit

Bill Simmons
IMAGO/Depositphotos

It's been an amazing and inspiring rise for the former ESPN Page 2 columnist, with the 55-year-old former Boston Sports Guy turning his podcast into a media empire.

So often the NBA and NFL common-man fan, now a one percenter, usually goes after sites like ours, dispelling us as lowly "aggregators." But in the past week, "The Bill Simmons Podcast" titan has gone after ESPN on how how they'll ruin "Inside the NBA," where he was once the belle of ball at the Worldwide Leader in Sports, and Pablo Torre for doing legitimate investigative work on the Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson relationship.

RELATED: Ex-Patriots GM destroys Belichick for Jordon Hudson romance amid 'engaged' news

Bill Belichick, Jordon Hudson
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

It's easy to consistently belittle us lowly aggregators trying to survive in an industry that has been destroyed by technology, and ESPN is easy to criticize. But has he not been paying attention to the new version that allows its stars to say whatever the heck they want? See Pat McAfee and Stephen A. Smith.

McAfee especially constantly taunts ESPN executives, most recently after the network hired it's former employee Rich Eisen, questioning on-air if it was sending a message.

It's fair to worry that ESPN, looking to make back the money on the billions they've invested on the NBA, would ruin the vibe of "Inside the NBA" with too many commercial breaks. But Charles Barkley is an untouchable superstar, and CEO Jimmy Pitaro will do everything in his power to make him happy.

"I think ESPN is gonna f**k this show up," Simmons said in the money line from an otherwise boring rant.

RELATED: Tyrese Haliburton posts 6-word Ben Stiller dagger as forever Knicks enemy cemented

And then the Torre NSFW take down, on his popular movie podcast, "The Rewatchables," was completely out of line, and has been quickly aggregated this morning for being unnecessarily mean.

"I've never seen anybody dying on a stupider story for a week and a half and pretending you're a journalist," Simmons whines on, and this is not a joke, the "Heaven Can Wait" "Rewatchables" episode. "What the f**k was that?... Belichick's dating a girl. Let me do nine shows about it. Settle the f**k down."

Torre, who also left ESPN much like Simmons, is trying to make a name for himself with his podcast, "Pablo Torre Finds Out." Doing original reporting on one of the most talked about stories across the sports landscape is fair game.

Simmons, fortunately for him, has eff you money.

Unfortunately, that eff you money has turned him into a bully lately.

UPDATE: Pablo Torre responded.

— Enjoy free dish of rich and fabulous players with The Athlete Lifestyle on SI —

A peek: Brittany Mahomes teases baby Golden glimpse in gold-themed sleepsack

New duo: Who’s NFL star Myles Garrett’s new Olympic gold medalist gf Chloe Kim?

Chillin’: WNBA star Angel Reese buys modest $1.275 million Chicago house

No way!: NFL stars at prom: Nerdy Patrick Mahomes with Brittany, Joe Burrow, others

Tiger 2.0: Charlie Woods’ net worth: Is Tiger’s 16-year-old son really worth $25M?

Published | Modified
Matthew Graham
MATTHEW GRAHAM

Matthew Graham has over 20 years of media experience and oversees The Athlete Lifestyle On SI. He has had previous leadership roles at NBC Sports, Yahoo, and USA TODAY, where he co-founded For The Win (named Best Mobile Site by Digiday). He has also written for ESPN, Cosmopolitan, US Weekly, People, E! Online, and FHM, covering major sports and entertainment events like the Oscars, the Golden Globes, NBA Finals, Super Bowl, and winning the Yahoo Superstar Award for coverage of the Olympics.

Home/Business