Mets fire GM Jared Porter after accusations of explicit, unsolicited texts originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Jared Porter, the recently hired general manager for the New York Mets, is out of a job after ESPN reported he sent explicit unsolicited messages to a female reporter in 2016.
ESPN reported on Monday that Porter, then the director of professional scouting for the Cubs, began texting with the female reporter in what she believed was a normal source-reporter relationship. It then devolved into him asking about her appearance and requesting to meet him in different cities. After she ignored the texts, he sent more than 60 messages, before sending a photo of the crotch of his pants featuring a bulge.
When reached by ESPN before the story was published, Porter acknowledged sending text messages but said that the explicit ones were not actually of himself and are "are like, kinda like joke-stock images." He then declined further comment.
Hours after the story was published, Mets owner Steve Cohen posted on Twitter that Porter was fired.
"We have terminated Jared Porter this morning," Cohen said in a tweet. "In my initial press conference I spoke about the importance of integrity and I meant it. There should be zero tolerance for this type of behavior."
According to the article, ESPN had been in touch with the reporter, who was a foreign correspondent, since 2017, when the organization learned of the text messages. But she did not want to come forward then because she feared her career would be harmed. She has since left journalism but was granted anonymity because she still fears reprisals in her home country.
"My number one motivation is I want to prevent this from happening to someone else," she told ESPN through an interpreter. "Obviously, he's in a much greater position of power. I want to prevent that from happening again. The other thing is, I never really got the notion that he was truly sorry."
"I know in the U.S., there is a women's empowerment movement. But in [my home country], it's still far behind," the woman said. "Women get dragged through the mud if your name is associated with any type of sexual scandal. Women are the ones who get fingers pointed at them. I don't want to go through the victimization process again. I don't want other people to blame me."
