two days from his duties at ESPN for allegedly taking out a billboard in Akron, Ohio, which read "You're Welcome, Lebron. Love, Miami" and pictured two NBA championship rings. The billboard referred to LeBron James's departure from the Miami Heat and return to the Cleveland Cavaliers. On August 11, 2014, Dan Le Batard addressed his two days off-air was not because of the billboards, but because he was going to fly a plane banner with the (You're Welcome) banner at the homecoming of LeBron Friday (August 9) and do a live radio transmission to "mock the homecoming." Zoo Miami Baby Hippo In October 2018 Zoo Miami’s Ron Magill, aka "The Velvet Buzzsaw", suggested naming a baby hippo as part of a fundraiser. If the $10,000 goal could be met, the hippo would be named after Dan Le Batard. In December 2018 it was announced that the baby hippo could not be named in honor of Dan Le Batard. Michael Ryan Ruiz stated that Disney policy would not allow animals to be named after personalities. But on January 5, 2021 — the day after Dan Le Batard's contract ended with ESPN — Zoo Miami officially announced the pygmy hippopotamus had been named Dan Le Batard. Donald Trump's "Go Back" Tweets On July 18, 2019, on his radio show Le Batard criticized former President Trump’s “go back” to the “crime-infested places from which they came” tweets about four minority congresswomen and called ESPN's policy of avoiding politics on its broadcasts "cowardly". Le Batard then missed several days and several segments from his radio show over the course of the next week before eventually meeting with ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro the following week. References External links Archive of Le Batard's column at The Miami Herald Show site from The Ticket Miami Living people 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American journalists American male journalists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American journalists American sports announcers American sports journalists American sports radio personalities American television personalities Disney people ESPN people University of Miami alumni People from Central Islip, New York Writers from Miami Sportswriters from Florida Sportswriters from New York (state) American people of Cuban descent Year of birth missing (living people)