Keith Pompey reportedly OUT at the Philadelphia Inquirer, and to that I say, good riddance

Our friends over at Crossing Broad pointed out that the Philadelphia Inquirer has officially removed Keith Pompey from the writer bio section of its site, which probably means he’s completely gone from the Inky.

And to that I say, good riddance.

Was he technically a solid beat reporter? Sure. He reported the news surrounding the team. That was his job. He also made it about himself way more than anyone who actually respects journalism wants to see.

He may not be as bad as Marcus Hayes, who is still somehow employed by the Inquirer, but he still needed to go.

It also doesn’t sound like Keith Pompey’s departure had much to do with his writing. It seems more like a political thing than anything else, at least according to Kevin Kinkead over at Crossing Broad.

I never want to dance on the grave of someone losing their job, especially in this economy, where everything is expensive and jobs are harder to find. But I’m not going to sit here and pretend I’m broken up about it, either.

Keith Pompey never moved the needle enough for me. Anytime he got real notoriety, it was usually because of some dumb shit he said or tweeted.

Here are two prime examples.

First, he posted this wild tribute to 9/11 five years ago. It is so unbelievable that you really just need to listen to it for yourself.

Keith Pompey’s unforgettable tribute to 9/11

OH MY GOD KEITH NO pic.twitter.com/Cpl8Lgkz1x

— Subscribe to the You Know Ball Patreon (@TrillBroDude) September 11, 2021

The full quote:

“Let’s to say it was a tough time in our history. And tomorrow is gonna be an emotional day for a lot of us. I mean, the fact that you see kids 20-something now, never even knew their family. You know? It’s tough. But let me tell you something that’s NOT tough, not tough at all. And I’m talking about DIRECTV Stream. Right? You know, does this sound familiar? You’ve got one device that lets you catch the game live, another that lets you stream your favorite shows…”

Simply amazing stuff.

Second example of Keith Pompey going viral for the wrong reason. He accused Joel Embiid of punching Marcus Hayes in the locker room, then course-corrected and said he shoved him, before turning off his replies.

Max! We need a comment @Philly_Mays pic.twitter.com/rkURmGMzC5

— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) November 3, 2024

The reporter was “shoved” by Embiid.

— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) November 3, 2024

Magical stuff.

Nothing ever actually came of it. And for more context, Marcus Hayes, the reporter who was “assaulted,” wrote a column the day before the incident calling Embiid’s work ethic into question while citing his dead brother and son in the article.

It was wildly offensive, and Embiid should have actually assaulted him.

Anyway, we won’t be seeing anything like this from Pompey for a while, at least not with the Inky. A win is a win, even if it isn’t happening on the court.