General While earning a name as a critic of many people and organizations, he has appeared sensitive to criticism directed toward his own work.
Stephen Rodrick wrote for
Slate that Kornheiser was allowed by ESPN to argue aimlessly on television and that his
Washington Post column was being used to plug side projects rather than gather news from cited sources. Kornheiser called on
5 Slate, owned by the ''Post's'' parent company, to fire Rodrick. After Kornheiser's first game on
Monday Night Football, Paul Farhi wrote in
The Washington Post that Kornheiser had emphasized the obvious, played third fiddle, and was reminiscent of
Dennis Miller "in a bad way." Kornheiser responded during an interview on
The Dan Patrick Show on August 15, 2006, saying that Farhi was a "two-bit weasel slug" and his own newspaper had back-stabbed him. His response generated more criticism from media outlets, including the
Post. Other criticism came from
Toronto Argonauts play-by-play commentator
Mike Hogan, who said, "The thing that really bothers me is that Kornheiser doesn't seem to know his place. If you're there for comic relief, that's one thing. But for God's sake, leave the football analysis to guys who actually played the game." Former NFL offensive lineman
Mike Schad also criticized Kornheiser, saying that "when people watch a game, they want to learn something. I don't need a guy who's sarcastic or trying to be funny. I love listening to
Ron Jaworski on Monday Nights. He played the game and has lots of good insight and Kornheiser just gets in his way." – said that Kornheiser's performance on
MNF was "fine."
Controversial remarks During a
Monday Night Football telecast on September 15, 2008, Kornheiser made a comment about a clip of the
ESPN Deportes crew's call of a
Felix Jones touchdown, saying, “I took high-school Spanish, and that either means ‘nobody is going to touch him’ or ‘could you pick up my dry cleaning in the morning.’” Later in the broadcast, Kornheiser apologized on-air for the remark. On February 23, 2010, it emerged that ESPN had suspended Kornheiser for two weeks for comments he made on his radio show about fellow high-profile ESPN personality
Hannah Storm's wardrobe that day. In March 2010, Kornheiser commented: "The last time I looked, the roads were made for automobiles...We're going to be dominated as if this was Beijing by hundreds of thousands of bicyclists... They all wear... my God... with the little water bottle in the back and the stupid hats and their shiny shorts. They are the same disgusting poseurs that in the middle of a snowstorm come out with cross-country skiing on your block. Run 'em down... Let them use the right, I’m okay with that. I don’t take my car and ride on the sidewalk because I understand that’s not for my car... Why do these people think that these roads were built for bicycles?... They dare you to run them down." Cyclist
Lance Armstrong replied. "Disgusting, ignorant, foolish. What a complete f-ing idiot." In June 2010, Green Bay Packer quarterback
Aaron Rodgers criticized Kornheiser's performance on Monday Night Football, saying: "He's terrible... I don’t think he’s funny. I don’t think he’s insightful. I don’t think he knows, really, anything about sports." Rodgers also criticized ESPN analyst
Ron Jaworski and other ESPN employees during the interview. Kornheiser responded in an interview by saying: "If he thinks I'm no good, he wouldn't be the first. Or the last," and "I tried to establish some rapport with that. I guess that rapport didn't exist." The two have since reconciled. Kornheiser and Rodgers even played a round of golf together with
Barack Obama and
Mark Kelly in April 2016. In October 2015, Kornheiser was interviewing
Huffington Post editor
Howard Fineman about the conservative movement in Congress when he asked if
Tea Party members are "like
ISIS trying to establish a
caliphate here," which Fineman called a "good analogy" but without the violence. == Honors ==