Tony Dungy, the NFL’s Last Christian Voice, Removed from 'Sunday Night Football' | Jason Whitlock Harmony

This episode is brought to you by Collegard.

Do you know what's really scary?

Not screening for colon cancer when you turn 45.

The Collegard test is non-invasive, requires no special proper time off work,

and ships right to your door.

In just three simple steps,

Collegard takes the scare out of colon cancer screening.

If you're 45 or older and at average risk,

ask your healthcare provider about the Collegard test.

Collegard is available by prescription only.

Learn more or request a prescription today at collegard.com slash screen.

I welcome to the Harmony Channel. I'm Jason Whitlock, your host, T.J. Mo. Anthony Walker.

We'll join me here in a second.

I want to start by reading this statement from Tony Dungee,

the Hall of Fame football coach and broadcaster NFL football broadcaster.

He's announcing what we heard a couple of weeks ago.

This is from Tony Dungee's Twitter feed or X-feed.

I have been informed by NBC that I won't be back with football night in America this fall.

It has given me time to reflect and also to look ahead.

It's disappointing news,

but I want to thank my NBC family for making the last 17 years so special.

I'll have lasting memories of my time there,

especially with Rodney Harrison, who has become a tremendous friend.

God has always directed me in these moments.

And while I'm not sure what the next steps will be for me,

whether it will be football, whether it will be in football in broadcasting

or getting more involved in church and community outreach,

I know God has plans for my life and I can't wait to see them unfold.

And I'm reminded of one of my favorite verses in Bible,

Romans 8 and 28. God works all things for his good and for those who love the Lord.

It's, I have, I'm not surprised by this.

I've always thought that Tony Dungee 17 years on NBC always shocked me.

NBC is probably the most secular television network we have in America.

I think they used Tony Dungee and the NFL used Tony Dungee to try to signal

that hey, we're not anti-Christian.

Tony Dungee's on our most popular show,

Sunday Night Football or Football Night in America,

which proceeds Sunday Night Football.

We still have Tony Dungee's morality, integrity,

and Christian worldview as a part of the NFL,

and now NBC and the NFL.

I think are kind of done with the biblical worldview,

the Christian worldview, and so they have removed Tony Dungee.

TJ Moe, Anthony Walker, welcome to the show.

Anthony, this clearly struck a chord with you, his removal.

You texted me this morning and I was like, well,

man, we got to have you on the show to talk about it.

So it's clearly sparked a thought in you or a reaction from you.

What is your reaction?

Yeah, you say you weren't surprised.

I was surprised just because as you pointed out, he's been there 17 years.

And with that, he's had his positions and his convictions those 17 years.

So if NBC knew what was going on,

he knows, and I'm sure behind the scenes, there were things that he may say,

hey, I'm not talking about this or I'm not going to do this.

And they've held that line for 17 years.

But now my speculation goes back to the vote.

Like that's the only thing I can think, right, for Belichick.

Because if there was anything else, I think it was a few years ago,

he started becoming even more vocal about his stance

against abortion about saving unborn children and went to a few rallies,

public speeches, and faced a lot of criticism.

Because of that, and you would think, okay, NBC,

if there's anything that you guys are not really wanting to be with,

that might be it.

They let that blow over.

But this vote became a situation.

And I think you did a show a couple of weeks ago where you said,

there were articles that came out as well that said,

that's probably what's about to happen.

So I didn't think it would, but that's what you predicted,

and that's what everything was kind of pointing to.

And it also shows me this, that with his convictions,

he brought it to the NFL as you pointed out.

He brought this kind of quieter, milder approach towards coaching,

but he was still a fierce coach, still a very intelligent coach,

coached winner Super Bowl champ.

So we got that, but even then the NFL was like,

we're done with that kind of brand.

Even those within his coaching tree are pretty much out.

So the NFL had their time, and I think NBC has had their time.

And as you're pointing out, because of the vote,

I think the NFL may even turn even further away from him at this point.

TJ, is this significant, Tony Dungee being done at NBC,

and maybe his affiliation with the NFL being done?

Is this significant?

And the other thing I want to just say, I have to say,

TJ, you're doing a marvelous job, losing weight.

Man, you can really see it in your face.

Anyway, go ahead.

Yeah, I think is it significant?

It is to us.

Why? Because we root for the good guys always.

And so, and I think there's a large percentage of Americans who root for the good guys.

And the fewer of them that are on television,

I don't know how you're going to keep us.

Because I'm just not, it already is like pulling teeth to get me to watch

pre-games and post-games.

Okay, these are not particularly interesting people most of the time.

And so when you do it and you want to see any sort of breakdown,

the game, I want to hear the good guys do it.

I do.

There's so many options now too.

And everybody's got their own side shows.

And you could see everybody's thoughts on Twitter and whatever.

And so, I root for the good guys.

And they're clearing that out.

There aren't very many good guys left.

There may be a couple.

None come to mind, actually.

Tony would have been the one.

Number one, if you'd say, who's the good guy in the NFL right now?

It's Tony Dungee.

I'm sure there are others.

Kurt Warner's the second one.

That I would say he's still around and affiliated.

There just aren't many.

And seems pretty clear to me that we're not welcome.

And in our worldview and the things that we say,

each time we step out of line and Tony did it a few times.

He did it with Michael Sam in 2014 and say,

I wouldn't have drafted him.

And he got destroyed for that.

Just by stating what most Christians would tell you.

Like, he feels like a distraction.

Not something we want to have on our team.

In 2023, in the height of all the trends crazy,

he posted some tweet about having litter boxes.

And they said, oh, this is anti-trans.

And it's not even true.

And he has to backtrack.

And it's like, we got a world view too.

And we shouldn't be shy about it.

And Tony, I think, he certainly goes out of his way.

For the stuff that he stands for.

I mean, he's been at the march for life.

The guy is very bold.

However, the silver lining here

is I want to hear way more from Tony Dungee.

And I think there was a muzzle put on him from NBC.

And so my hope here, and I tweeted this at him,

as soon as I saw it this morning,

I'm super excited for his next adventure.

And my hope is that he becomes way more bold,

even more bold than he's been here.

His platform's not going anywhere.

Look, Tony's one of my favorite guys.

I've got his book.

I actually pulled it out to reread it two days ago.

The uncommon man, okay?

He has an influence.

He doesn't need NBC.

He really doesn't.

He can go around and say whatever he wants.

And I think we'll make a much bigger impact now

without that NBC muzzle on him.

I, that is my hope during fantasy.

Because I do think Tony's been muted at NBC

and associated with the NFL.

And it makes you pull your punches.

And I think he'll find on the other side of it.

This is a blessing is that, you know,

God needs him all in.

And I, you know, I'm speculating here, obviously.

But I would imagine they had some conversations.

I didn't like the Super Bowl.

Tony and Rodney out at Alcatraz talking the NFL

the Super Bowl before, you know, pregame show.

Absolutely ridiculous.

And I would imagine Tony figured that out

and may have said something.

And I'm sure NBC said something to him about,

hey, you won't talk about this bill of check thing.

And it's just a bad fit all around.

But yeah, I think Tony has a remarkable opportunity

to be even bolder.

And I'm hoping that's what we'll see.

Anthony, I'm going to give you a chance to respond to that.

And then I'm going to shift the conversation to like,

who might replace Tony Dundee?

Yeah, you know, one of the other things that I saw

in this was either yesterday or the day before,

there was a picture with Dr. Tony Evans

and Tony Dundee and James Brown.

And I think they're going to be on

Tony Evans podcast or something.

And I just thought about that.

Like I wonder what they're cooking up here.

Because here are some guys who have been consistent

in their conviction, who've been consistent in the sports

and kind of media realm of what not.

And so I would like to see that kind of stuff.

I'm like, TJ, this will open some doors really

for Tony to be able to expand his platform.

But again, echoing TJ,

Tony was one of those people where like,

okay, yeah, you do tune in to kind of hear some of the football stuff.

But man, just a good guy.

Like a good, you know, Christian guy.

I want to hear what he has to say about this.

And there's an audience now that NBC is going to lose because of that.

Because now for those that were just tuning in

to hear what the good guy had to say,

they could care less about all this other stuff.

And there's too many other kind of exes and owes people just exes and owes.

But you want to hear from Tony.

So I'm looking forward to the next chapter for him.

Yeah, they've lost their voice of authority.

And you know, someone like something big happens

and you need someone credible to comment on it

rather than just some of these ex athletes.

They've lost their voice of authority.

But we, again, on the hopeful side,

is we have perhaps gained an energized voice of authority.

Because TJ, I know this has bothered you,

bothered maybe you put it in words.

But, you know, Tony and James Brown used to attend Andrew Womack events.

And I believe, and I think you believe like NBC and CBS

made them back away from that.

And again, that's like Tony being free to associate

with whomever he wants and say whatever he wants.

Very important and, but again, I just,

I remember you talking to me about like, man,

Tony comes to Andrew Womack events.

Yes, I mean, that was, you know, I've been phone Andrew Womack for 15, 20 years now.

And I tuned in one of his things and there was James Brown and Tony.

And that was before I knew much about James Brown either.

And so I, everybody kind of knew about Tony James Brown sitting there on the stage.

That was just whether or not you agree with all the theology of Womack or you agree with anything.

It's two Christian guys who said don't care.

I'm here to tell you about Jesus. That's it.

And so they found an audience similar to what Charlie Kirk will go to Andrew Womack events.

And Charlie Kirk was very clearly communicating.

Don't care what you think about anything.

I'm here to tell you about Jesus.

I want those guys.

And I think NBC and CBS and literally every network that exists,

including Fox, they're not on our side either.

They prevent that from happening.

They have the guilt by association thing going on.

You know, it's, look, I think we should invite Tony Dungeon Roll call.

And I think that invitation should be out today, Jason.

And I will send it personally if you don't.

And look, I think there have, these corporate jobs are destructive.

And I think it gives us a, you have a false dilemma as a guy who's trying to be,

right, in the world, not of the world.

And you think, well, I need to be on NBC to have this influence.

And I can reach so many people and tell them about Jesus.

And it's like, first of all, in this world, you certainly do not need that.

You have all the reach you want anywhere else.

But if you get there and get the platform,

I can't do it anyway. What's the point of the platform?

And that is where I'm at.

Do you know how many events people would love to have Tony Dungeon speaking at?

Just he could go, he could replace, I don't know what his salary was.

I assume it's a lot.

I assume he could replace that in speaking engagements tomorrow.

For Christians that are lining up, willing to get his opinion and his bold take.

And he's willing to do it because we've seen it.

It's just that for whatever justification and rationalization that went on in his head,

he reeled it in.

And I don't want him to reel it in.

It's time to be more bold, not less bold.

And so that's rhyme out with the whole thing.

I'm celebrating this. Sorry, Tony.

I'm sorry, I don't typically celebrate.

Guys, you get fired.

I'm celebrating this because I think we get a much better version of Tony Dungeon.

He didn't get fired.

He got let go or set free.

There you go.

Just imagine Tony Evans who had a son playing the NFL, James Brown who played

college basketball at an Ivy League school.

And obviously has a tremendous broadcasting career.

And Tony Dungeon, those three guys just talking sports.

And with fascinating for Christians, that would be fascinating.

Finally here, and we got about five, six more minutes,

a possible replacement that I think NBC may try to go after would be Mike Tomlin.

What do we think of Tomlin as a potential replacement for Tony Dungeon? Anthony,

I'll let you fire first.

He's not going to be Tony Dungeon.

Like he'll replace the spot maybe, but he's going to probably be more of the

exes and o's, just talk the game, giving the coach's perspective.

Just kind of another coach who happens to be highly melanated.

But he won't replace the cachet and the conviction of a Tony Dungeon.

TJ?

Yeah, look, Tony Dungeon has something that very few people have,

and that is the quiet strength.

And everybody just shuts up when he, he's almost talking in a whisper.

And everybody's like, he'd be quiet.

We got to hear what Tony has to say.

Those guys don't exist.

And so there's this quiet authority that whenever you went over to Tony,

you were just waiting to see what the final ruling was.

That's a presence you don't really replace.

So I'm not, I don't know who's going to fill that seat.

And I'm sure Mike Tomlin has some of that presence having been an NFL head coach for so long.

He might be good at who knows if he's willing to make waves.

If you're not going to be Tony, again, there was a reason Tony was in that seat for so long.

He, Tony, to be effective didn't have to be the guy who gave crazy opinions.

I don't remember any crazy opinions.

Certainly as a Christian.

I don't think he had any, okay?

And so there's the people who think he had crazy opinions are all left winged crazy.

So I don't know who replaced the only other guy that I thought of Jason.

And I have no idea if he wants to get in media,

but he's recently been let go.

Anthony or Seth Frey.

He's Pete Carroll.

Pete Carroll would be kind of interesting in that role.

Pete Carroll would be, and he would be 70-some-odd years old,

but he comes off like he's 50 and high energy and, you know,

what, coached in two Super Bowls led USC to, but that's an interesting one.

I hadn't thought about that, but yeah, Pete Carroll would be an interesting choice.

Gentlemen, I'm going to let you go.

That's it. That's all.

Thank you for participating.

Thank you guys for watching.

We'll see you next time.

To be a nation one united, now we're headed for downfall.

College lights shine down, what we need more than anything now.

Amen.

Feel the rush.

Live thoroughbred racing is happening now at Laurel Park.

The players track every Friday through Sunday, the gates open at 11 a.m.

and the action starts at noon, free admission, fast-paced racing,

and real wagering excitement from start to finish.

Pick your horses, place your bets, chase the win.

From live racing and simulcast action to great food, special events,

and non-stop sports viewing, Laurel Park is where the action lives.

Come, win, play, visit Laurelpark.com.