Hair him out: Jason Witten confirms ESPN enhanced his balding head
Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten acknowledge that ESPN makeup artists enhanced his hair for broadcast while he was doing Monday Night Football last year.
Witten, who has made subtle references to his balding issues, spoke at length for the first time on his return to the Cowboys after retiring in 2018 to pursue a television career. Witten was a guest of Bad Radio, the midday show on KTCK 1310 The Ticket, hosted by Bob Sturm and Dan McDowell.
“It just kind of happened,” Witten said. “The makeup lady did it one time and I was like, ‘alright, I’ll keep doing it.’ It takes like two minutes. So, I was like, ‘cool.’”
Both Sturm and McDowell, who are both proudly bald, didn’t seem to completely buy Witten’s hair mea culpa.
“So every game day you would hop in the chair and she’d go to work on you,” Sturm asked.
Witten, who turns 37 on May 6, confirmed that’s how he would appear with a flush head of closely-cropped hair on air. But he didn’t explain what was used for the enhancement.
“I don’t know if I’m buying all of this either, but it’s OK,” McDowell said with a wink. “It just seems so enhanced. Now, the camera does put on 10 pounds of hair … “
The conversation quickly turned to less follicle-related matters, including why Witten came out of his one-year retirement.
“I knew early on there was something inside that says there’s some more in the tank,” said Witten, who is the Cowboys’ all-time leader in receiving yards and catches. “There’s a fire, and I like the guys I’m going to play with. I think it’s a good football team.”
This story was originally published April 24, 2019 at 8:57 PM.
