Le Batard to stay after summit with ESPN exec

Dan Le Batard will continue on his ESPN Radio and TV shows after meeting face-to-face with the network president Jimmy Pitaro, a source told The Post.

The get-together in New York on Thursday was the end of a one-week saga in which Le Batard challenged Pitaro’s “no pure politics” ESPN policy by commenting on President Trump and the “Send her back” chants.

Le Batard called ESPN’s stance “cowardly” and said the network didn’t have the “stomach” for the conversation. Le Batard is paid around $3.5 million, according to sources, to do his national radio show, and his TV show called “Highly Questionable,” in which his father is his main sidekick.

Since he made his comments last week, Le Batard and Pitaro have had several conversations leading to Thursday’s encounter. Le Batard missed the first hour of last Friday’s show, and the entirety of Monday’s and Thursday’s programs. He is expected to be back on the radio Monday.

ESPN declined to publicly comment on the meeting. Le Batard did not return messages. A source said Pitaro and Le Batard were on the same page following the meeting.

Pitaro has chosen to handle the situation differently than his predecessor John Skipper. Though Pitaro is not opposed to suspending broadcasters, he has chosen in this case to talk it out, though there would likely be more severe ramifications if there is a repeat offense.

Skipper haltingly suspended Jemele Hill after she initially tweeted Trump was a “white supremacist.” Skipper only benched Hill after a second offense when she questioned supporting Jerry Jones’ Cowboys advertisers over Jones’ stance on the flag.

Le Batard, whose parents emigrated from Cuba, did not name Pitaro when he criticized ESPN last Thursday, but Le Batard made it very personal. He denounced Trump and the crowd for its racism, while blasting ESPN’s policy.

“We here at ESPN haven’t had the stomach for that fight, because Jemele did some things on Twitter and you saw what happened after that, and then, here all of a sudden, nobody talks politics on anything unless we can use one of these sports figures as a meat-shield in the most cowardly possible way to discuss these subjects,” Le Batard said.

On Thursday, Le Batard and Pitaro had a “positive” meeting, a source said. The policy is still intact, and Le Batard is still on ESPN with multiple years left on his contract.