Paul Finebaum caller disconnected after asking about ESPN removing him

Paul Finebaum continues to be a talking point in the college football world and not for his sports opinions. On3’s Pete Nakos confirmed a report from OutKick about Finebaum being pulled off ESPN network shows due to his interest in running for Senate in the state of Alabama. To this point, no public comment on the situation has come from Finebaum.

On Monday, a caller on The Paul Finebaum Show began to bring up the topic. However, he quickly got disconnected before finishing his thought. “The only other thing I wanted to say, Paul, was I saw a blurb that you’ve been pulled off some of the ESPN,” Judge John from Tennessee said before getting cut off.

Finebaum quickly transitioned without speaking on the subject himself, saying, “Okay, let’s continue here and talk to Don in Missouri. Hey Don, go right ahead.”

A Finebaum caller started to ask about the reports he’s been pulled off ESPN shows and got disconnected pic.twitter.com/EaTiktHsiT

— Ryan Glasspiegel (@sportsrapport) October 6, 2025

ESPN’s Bill Hofheimer, who is the VP of ESPN’s Public Relations Department, initially denied the report of Finebaum being taken off shows. He later confirmed to On3 that Finebaum will be back on Tuesday morning’s episode of First Take, alongside ESPN College Football Playoff insider Heather Dinich.

However, a few usual appearances did not take place after Week 6 college football action. Finebaum was not on Sunday’s SportsCenter, a place he usually recaps the previous day’s games before the Worldwide Leader turns its attention to the upcoming NFL slate.

More on Paul Finebaum considering leaving ESPN to politics

The origination of Finebaum considering politics stemmed from the assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk. Kirk was murdered on the campus of Utah Valley at a speaking engagement last month, something Finebaum called “awakening.”

“I spent four hours numb talking about things that didn’t matter to me. And it kept building throughout that weekend,” Finebaum said of doing his radio show immediately after Kirk’s death. “I felt very empty doing what I was doing that day … It’s hard to describe, not being involved in politics, how that affected me and affected tens of millions of people all over this country. And it was an awakening.”

Finebaum has yet to officially declare whether or not he will enter the political world. Some pause did come due to former Auburn men’s basketball head coach Bruce Pearl also possibly considering the Senate role in Alabama. But shortly after announcing his retirement, Pearl said he was not interested.

On3’s Nick Kosko contributed to this report