Reporter Abby Labar Is the Center of Controversy Yet Again — See What Happened

Sports reporter Abby Labar's controversy first began in 2022. However, a recent, similar scandal, which doesn't involve Abby at all, has brought her past mistakes back into the spotlight.

Amid the current Dianna Russini / Mike Vrabel affair scandal, people are pointing out the similarities to Abby's own story. In fact, some of the more unfair comparisons are saying that Abby walked so Dianna could run.

Back in 2022, Abby worked for the Carolina Hurricanes broadcast team. It was there that she met then-Hurricanes defenseman Ian Cole. At the time, both of them were spoken for — Abby was engaged, and Ian was married, had children, and his wife was pregnant at the time. Allegedly, the pair had an affair, a rumor which was fanned even further by Abby's fiancé calling off their wedding just days before the ceremony.

Interestingly, Abby was the recipient of most of the public's ire over the situation, even though Ian had more to lose on a personal level. Fans cited Abby's alleged misuse of her privileges as a sports journalist as the reason for the majority of their anger being directed at her.

Now, in 2026, Abby is the center of controversy yet again. However, it isn't her who's being accused of having an inappropriate relationship this time. In a significantly similar situation, sports reporter Dianna Russini and football coach Mike Vrabel are believed to be having an affair. Both Dianna and Mike are married and have children. Despite some questionable photos, Mike and Dianna insist they're just friends.

Similarly, one can argue that Dianna lost more from the scandal than Mike did. While Mike will miss part of the upcoming NFL Draft, he will still maintain his head coach position. Meanwhile, Dianna has resigned from The Athletic altogether after an internal investigation.

Sadly, people are using the fact that both Abby and Dianna allegedly leveraged their positions as female sports reporters into affairs as an excuse to call the entire concept of women in that profession into question. Interestingly, no one is drawing comparisons between Ian and Mike.

As one Reddit user wrote, "A lot of them have done this, so it seems to be a good reason to doubt them, especially because it’s obvious that certain women are in their roles because of their looks." On the other hand, someone else pointed out, "There are plenty of hard-working women reporters who do great work but are always doubted, and unfortunately, this incident gives their detractors another reason to doubt them." While a third simply stated, "Shame on them both."

Far be it from us to defend homewrecking. That said, can we hold both sides equally accountable? While we're at it, let's not blame all the women in a single profession for the actions of a few. If we were to play that game (and we shouldn't), we'd pretty much have to kick all men out of Hollywood.