ESPN Prez was duped by dope dealer

Former ESPN president John Skipper was the target of a cocaine extortion plot that forced his shocking resignation in December.

At the time, Skipper cited a substance abuse problem, but in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he admitted the real reason he stepped down was because his drug addiction put the company in a terrible position.

“In December, someone from whom I bought cocaine attempted to extort me,” Skipper told James Andrew Miller.

Skipper, who talked about how careful he typically was when it came to drugs and his sources, said a new dealer he had never used before tried to shake him down. He didn’t go into specifics, but said he was so spooked by the situation, went right to Disney CEO Bob Iger and the two ultimately decided Skipper had to go.

“They threatened me, and I understood immediately that threat put me and my family at risk, and this exposure would put my professional life at risk as well,” Skipper said. “I foreclosed that possibility by disclosing the details to my family, and then when I discussed it with Bob, he and I agreed that I had placed the company in an untenable position and as a result, I should resign.”

Skipper claims his recreational drug use, which he attributed to his being a “hippie” and starting his professional career at Rolling Stone magazine, never got in the way of work. He admitted that he used cocaine, but never dabbled in heroin or opioids and that being a “master of compartmentalization” allowed him to go through his professional life without a hint that he was stoned.

“In order to do what I did you have to be a master of compartmentalization. Which is why people are going, ‘I don’t understand this.’ Because they have the belief that they can recognize someone who has a problem. Because it ‘has to’ manifest itself. And I did a very good job of not letting it manifest itself, with the exception — and this part is another piece of the part that I let myself down and I did not hold myself to the standard I should have, which is, in order to compartmentalize you have to deceive yourself and deceive other people. And that’s not who I want to be, and I think that has to be part of my rehabilitation.”