Dan Le Batard has now boxed himself in. ESPN has called his bluff, leaving him with a choice:

Either kowtow to what he described as “cowardly” corporate policy, placing politics and President Donald Trump outside of his national sports radio show, or talk politics, risking his multimillion salary and one of the largest platforms in sports media.

Le Batard positioned his top boss, ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro, as weak, making the criticism very personal without even mentioning Pitaro’s name. In Le Batard’s words, ESPN under Pitaro doesn’t have “the stomach for that fight” and is “cowardly” as it designates political talk for only sports-related conversations.

Le Batard is usually skillful in dancing on the line. He did it just fine over the 18 months that Pitaro has been president. Le Batard even signed a new contract. So, it has apparently been livable.

Now, Le Batard doesn’t seem to know what to do. The day after his comments on Trump’s tweets on the four young, minority congresswomen and the ensuing “Send her back” chants, Le Batard skipped the first hour of his Friday program with the official excuse being he was “eating breakfast.”

On Monday, he DNPed entirely — the talk show host’s decision. He is supposedly going to return on Tuesday for his radio show. He is still doing his more formatted TV show full-time.

In Pitaro, Le Batard has a supporter, but not the kinship he shared with former president John Skipper. Le Batard was shocked and emotional on the air when Skipper announced his resignation after admitting to a cocaine problem. They seemed to have more than a boss-employee relationship.

Last June, Pitaro did sign off on a new multi-year and million-dollar deal for Le Batard, but it is not a given he is in the spot forever. Everything but the games are replaceable at ESPN.

ESPN executives are high on Ryen Russillo. Sources said there have been some initial talks about expanding his podcast role, which could keep him as a future radio option, if a deal can be reached.

Meanwhile, Le Batard’s TV show has been relegated on Mondays during the football season to ESPN2.

Regardless of what is going on behind the scenes, Pitaro still expects Le Batard to follow the rules, like everyone else at ESPN. It is a Disney company, and when you take its money, you are agreeing to be part of the Mickey Mouse club. They even call you a “Cast Member.”

While the topic of race in our country is obviously much more important than anything in sports, it is not why people tune into ESPN. Le Batard’s priorities may be different than ESPN’s. The network’s main goal is helping the Disney stock price.

Le Batard, the son of Cuban immigrants, is a great American story and his feelings on the topic are understandably strong, even on a show filled with silliness. (We get and like the show.)

He is smart and talented. He quickly rose to the top of the Miami sports media heap. He has become arguably one of the top five most important on-air people at ESPN. He does a unique show and it employs a lot of people.

But now he is faced with a decision: Either be a good cast member or go full out against the brand, standing up for what he thinks is right and backing up his statements to speak out.

Le Batard launched into his race opinion by utilizing a tweet from FS1/SiriusXM’s Nick Wright that said a person is “complicit” if they don’t speak out against Trump and the chants.

“It is so wrong, what the president of our country is doing, trying to get reelected by dividing the masses, at a time when the old white man, the old rich white man, feels oppressed, being attacked, by minorities,” Le Batard said last Thursday.

Le Batard and ESPN are trying to make it work and have the issue go away. Le Batard is still in a good spot.

Skipper is handing out boatloads of cash at DAZN, so Le Betard probably would have at least one landing spot if things really got nuts. There would surely be many others if he left ESPN.

Le Batard will have to weigh it all and consider the advice he gave some ex-ESPN employees a few years ago.

“You leave, you’re going to get lost,” Le Batard once said of the power of ESPN. “You’re going to do it for the money and no one’s going to know where to find you.”

Le Batard could be successful outside of ESPN, but does he want to be? What is it worth to him to find out?