John Skipper Says He Resigned as ESPN President After Cocaine Extortion Plot

Former ESPN president John Skipper revealed his sudden resignation last year was the result of someone attempting to extort him over his use of cocaine.

"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 told James Andrew Miller of The Hollywood Reporter. "I foreclosed that possibility by disclosing the details to my family, and then when I discussed it with Bob [Iger], he and I agreed that I had placed the company in an untenable position and as a result, I should resign."

Skipper, 62, revealed he was suffering from a substance addiction in a statement announcing his resignation last December. He had been the network's president since January 2012.

"The statement I released was accurate. I had a substance abuse problem," Skipper told Miller. "I grew up wanting to be countercultural. I worked at Rolling Stone for the first 10 years of my professional life. I had a point of view that recreational drugs were recreational, that they weren't dangerous. That they could be used without repercussions."

Skipper said his cocaine use never altered his work performance, and he never used drugs while working. He added he never had any issues with alcohol and, when asked, also denied ever using heroin.

"I never allowed [cocaine] to interfere with my work, other than a missed plane and a few canceled morning appointments," Skipper said. "I've never been a daily user. My use over the past two decades has, in fact, been quite infrequent. I judge that I did a very good job and that it did not get in the way of my work. I worked hard, I worked smart. I worked all the time."

Skipper did not name the person who attempted to extort him but said they sold him cocaine and that it was their first deal with one another. While he described himself as a "careful" user of the substance, he accepted he was not in this instance.

ESPN named James Pitaro as its new president earlier this month.