The New York Knicks lost at home to the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference semifinals on Sunday, but they weren’t the one who took the biggest defeat that afternoon.
That award goes to ABC’s production team, who made a dumbfounding mistake during the game’s broadcast. During a transition to a commercial break at halftime, ABC used stock footage of New York City, which makes sense since that’s where the game was played.
But the footage was not only old and outdated, but highly insensitive. In the foreground, you can see the Statue of Liberty, but in the background, the Twin Towers are visible.
See for yourself.
This did in fact air on ABC. https://t.co/hsDSYXQUg6 pic.twitter.com/mnOFk8hvrd
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 30, 2023
ESPN, which regularly uses ABC to broadcast its primetime games, issued an apology for the astounding blunder.
“We mistakenly used an old stock image and we apologize,” ESPN said.
It is a huge mistake, but we really should have compassion on both ESPN and ABC. After all, one company is trying very hard to convince its viewers that biological men who compete in women’s sports are worth celebrating, and the other is doing an excellent job at spreading any kind of progressive nonsense under the sun.
Each company has a lot on its plate, so let’s show them some kindness during this difficult time.
