Howard Mittman was forced out as CEO of Bleacher Report after employees passionately objected to the lack of diversity at the company’s executive level, sources confirmed to the Daily News. The source at B/R said the statement was a collaboration among B/R leadership, EmB/Race leadership and B/R’s social moments team; this person also said that Mittman made edits to the statement with the support of EmB/Race’s leadership team. Earlier this month, the union representing staff at the Ringer, a sports-media company founded by Bill Simmons, complained about the lack of Black employees on staff.“Diversity in the newsroom is essential to covering police brutality and systemic racism, including in the worlds of sports and pop culture,” the union said in a In a memo to Bleacher Report’s staff Tuesday, Daniels said that “as a workplace, we’re committed to creating and maintaining a diverse, inclusive environment for all.”Daniels also listed changes aimed at “bringing more inclusiveness to everything we do,” such as infusing more diversity into hiring and management decisions.“Over the last several months, I’ve given a lot of thought to how we can further grow the B/R business and set it up for long-term success,” he said in the memo. "Sports and entertainment are the foundations of the businesses I have built. Turner Sports President Lenny Daniels is taking over business control of Bleacher Report, and there are no current plans to replace Mittman as CEO. Howard Mittman, a former Conde Nast executive who was named CEO last year, is leaving the company. When he first joined B/R, he worked out of a transparent glass office near the floor’s entrance that had previously served as a conference room and could be seen into from the floor’s main hallway. “There are multiple Black leaders in this building contributing far beyond their pay grade and job description.”During a 2019 meeting between Mittman and EmB/Race, members of EmB/Race voiced their requests for how B/R leadership could better support its Black employees. Those plans include adding diverse leaders, such as Turner executives Tara August and Tammie Williams, to B/R’s executive committee, establishing target representation goals by group and establishing a diversity board to meet with final candidates considered for positions at the manager level and higher. Odell says owners don’t see players ‘as human’ amid pandemic: ‘It doesn’t make sense why we’re trying to do this’ (WSJ)OBJ’s interview criticizing NFL that published today was done two weeks before he saw how safe Browns facility was49ers reach ‘incentive-laden, one-year deal’ with former Pro Bowl TE (Schefter)Our writer dives into OBJ’s latest news, the 49ers adding Jordan Reed and more ➡️ “We were all just like, ‘You’re speaking to a room full of Black leadership,’” said this employee. The org chart for B/R’s sales team lists 29 employees, including chief revenue officer Stefanie Rapp. The following is based on conversations with 11 current and former Bleacher Report employees as well as internal company documents, including a diversity report that was recently shared with employees, organizational charts and internal emails. “On the WebEx link at the bottom, I made sure I could see his face during the entire duration. That was said two years ago, and it wasn’t until shit hit the fan that it really looked bad,” said a current B/R employee.“Stories like that with Howard bear witness to the systemic issues with his hiring practices and the culture he developed and the issues that branched out,” said another current B/R employee.Addressing these issues is now the responsibility of Turner Sports. Weeks before the layoffs, a Black employee had pitched an idea for project to Toles and was told to collaborate with an employee from a different department who had pitched a similar idea. “The real failure is not even at a Bleacher level. A white male producer was assigned to produce the Super Bowl special in her stead; the source at B/R said this was a budgetary decision that was made because the white male producer was already slated to be on site.