ESPN's latest round of layoffs produced a depressing list of legitimate casualties. It has also produced a shadow list, populated by people who were never actually laid off, a charitable partnership that was never actually severed, and a former employee reacting to fabricated news about her own supposed firing from a job she left nearly a decade ago.
Jay Bilas has spent three decades building his reputation as one of ESPN's steadiest college basketball voices, joining the network's coverage in 1995. None of that stopped a fake tweet from nearly convincing the internet his run there had ended Tuesday, even though he was never remotely connected to this week's cuts.
Once ESPN's cuts began rolling out Tuesday, an account impersonating CBS Sports insider Jon Rothstein declared that "ESPN parting ways with long-time college basketball personality Jay Bilas" was imminent. Despite the account's bio plainly identifying it as satire, the post accumulated nearly two million views.
Breaking: ESPN parting ways with long time college basketball personality Jay Bilas.
— Jon Rothstein (NotJ0NRoth) July 21, 2026

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