Pablo Torre says Knicks fans still warn him over Jalen Brunson
The Pulitzer-winning “Pablo Torre Finds Out” host told Variety he is not sitting on a Brunson probe after his Kawhi Leonard investigation rattled NBA circles.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
3 min read
Pablo Torre says one offhand comment about Jalen Brunson still follows him around New York, 10 months after he floated the idea of looking into the Knicks star’s signing.
The host of Meadowlark Media’s “Pablo Torre Finds Out” told Variety that strangers regularly stop him to say, “Leave Jalen Brunson alone.” Torre said Rick Brunson, Jalen’s father and a Knicks assistant coach, also contacted him to ask what he was doing.
Torre told Variety he is not sitting on an investigation into Brunson. The reaction, though, shows how much attention his show has drawn since its reporting on Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and Aspiration, an environmental sustainability company tied to a $28 million endorsement deal examined by Torre’s team.
According to Variety, Torre’s reporting alleged that Leonard received a $28 million no-show endorsement deal from Aspiration as part of a story about possible Clippers salary-cap circumvention. Aspiration’s co-founder was recently sentenced to 14 years in prison for defrauding investors, including Ballmer, Variety reported.
A podcast built like a case file
“Pablo Torre Finds Out,” often shortened to “PTFO,” blends interviews, sports talk and reported audio storytelling. Variety described the show’s style as Torre guiding friends and experts through evidence as they discover the story in real time.
Showrunner Chris Tumminello told Variety the program is heavily produced and edited, with the team planning how information is introduced across an episode. Torre said the format is meant to show listeners how reporters reach conclusions and why the process takes work.
The show has also tackled stories involving Jordon Hudson and Bill Belichick, as well as Jeffrey Epstein’s connections to Harvard athletics, according to Variety.
In May, the Pulitzer Prize board named the staff of “Pablo Torre Finds Out” as winners, Variety reported. Dan Le Batard, Meadowlark’s co-founder and Torre’s longtime friend, told Variety that Torre values old-school journalistic principles while finding a modern way to present them.
From stat notebooks to ESPN
Torre’s parents immigrated from the Philippines and settled in New York City, according to Variety. Torre said sports helped him connect with other kids, and he kept a notebook of player statistics after his father took him to games.
At Harvard, Torre became executive editor of the Crimson. Variety reported that he was classmates with Mark Zuckerberg and was the 199th person to join Facebook through his friendship with Priscilla Chan, though Torre said they have since lost touch.
After college, Torre worked at Sports Illustrated and joined ESPN in 2012 as a senior writer. He later appeared across ESPN programming, including “The Sports Reporters,” “The Dan Le Batard Show,” “Around the Horn” and “Pardon the Interruption.”
Torre told Variety that being one of the few Asian Americans at ESPN made him stand out, recalling a moment before he officially started when someone assumed he worked in tech support after hearing he had joined the network.
His ESPN show “High Noon,” co-hosted with Bomani Jones, was canceled in February 2020, the same day Torre’s daughter was born, he told Variety. He later hosted “ESPN Daily,” producing five shows a week and learning how to structure reported stories for audio.
In spring 2023, former ESPN president John Skipper and Le Batard offered Torre a daily show at Meadowlark, Variety reported. Torre countered with a three-times-a-week podcast mixing investigations, interviews and conversation, which became “PTFO.”
Meadowlark Media told Variety that since partnering with The Athletic, the show’s cross-platform following has risen 99%, while monthly full-episode consumption is up 161% year over year. Meadowlark CEO Bimal Kapadia said more than half of the show’s YouTube views happen in the evening.
Torre told Variety the Pulitzer is the biggest professional development of his life, while saying he is still figuring out whether the recognition will make his work feel easier or harder.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.