An Apology

Image courtesy of usatoday.com

February 19th, 2012

5:06 pm ET

Last night, ESPN.com made a gross error in judgement, as our mobile website posted an offensive headline, containing a racist slur, referencing Jeremy Lin at 2:30 am ET. The article was removed immediately after being brought to the attention of management, at 3:15 am ET. I won’t repeat the content of the headline, as I am not only certain you are well aware as to what was said, but I also feel that its inclusion is unnecessary, and distasteful.

To say that this incident is unfortunate is an understatement. Lin’s meteoric rise to fame over the past two weeks has been an inspiration, not only to the Asian-American community, but to basketball fans across the world. During this period, however, we have witnessed a great deal of commentary that has placed a stronger emphasis on Lin’s Taiwanese heritage, and less on his surprising, record-breaking winning streak. That his achievements have been consistently overshadowed by racist comments saddens me deeply. What saddens me more, however, is that ESPN has contributed to this blight, and for that I cannot apologize enough.

At ESPN, we aim to provide sports fans with the most comprehensive, to-the-minute reporting. It goes without saying that we hold our writers, anchors and editors to an exceptionally high standard – one that we failed to maintain this morning. I do not think that the headline was intentionally hurtful. I would like to think better of our website team. What I do think is that it was a shameful, careless editorial oversight, one that should never have been allowed to happen, and that we can do better. We owe it to you, our fans, and to the talented athletes we report on every day, to do better.

In light of this incident, we are currently reviewing our editorial process to ensure that something like this never happens again, and the employees who were responsible for the publication of this article are facing disciplinary action. I assure you that we do not take this incident lightly, and are conducting this review with careful consideration.

To Jeremy Lin, the Asian-American community, and our entire readership, we apologize for the pain that the article caused. Your outrage is completely warranted – our lapse in judgement is one that should never have occurred. Here at ESPN, we believe that true athletic talent is colour blind, and we should report in a way that reflects that belief. 

John Skipper,

ESPN President