Overview
- Front Office Sports reports ESPN executives told Dan Orlovsky, Kendrick Perkins, Mina Kimes, and Laura Rutledge to stop promoting Papaya Gaming’s Solitaire Cash app.
- Mina Kimes apologized for not vetting the deal and deleted her posts over the weekend, and Orlovsky and Rutledge also removed their promotions.
- Stephen A. Smith, named Papaya’s global ambassador on Nov. 3, has not deleted his endorsements, with his posts still live as of Wednesday evening.
- Network leadership was not given an opportunity to vet the endorsement deals, according to Front Office Sports reporting.
- Papaya Gaming denies the allegations and says it will fight the Skillz lawsuit in court.