Living ESPN Apologizes For Being Racially Linsensitive
by Myles Tanzer
The New York Knicks’ mega popular new point guard Jeremy Lin said today that he’s “overwhelmed” by the heaps of praise being thrown upon him after his seven game winning streak. Even President Obama said that he was impressed by Lin this week. Perhaps that stress got to him, as the Knicks lost to the New Orleans Hornets last night. So how does the media cover Lin’s first loss? Well by continuing to ride the barely-there line of racism (“AMASIAN”) that has existed since Lin’s debut. ESPN jumped right over that line this morning on their moblie site by using “Chink in the Armor” for their headline. Oy.
Sports Illustrated got the apology from ESPN:
ESPN says in a statement Saturday it removed the headline 35 minutes after it was posted. The cable network says it is “conducting a complete review of our cross-platform editorial procedures and are determining appropriate disciplinary action to ensure this does not happen again. We regret and apologize for this mistake.”
Comedian Aziz Ansari reacted to the news:
I hope when that ESPN writer apologizes, the article isn’t titled “Lin Headline was Ching Chong Bing Wrong.” That would be bad.
— Aziz Ansari (@azizansari) February 18, 2012
“Chink in the armor” is a phrase that makes sense for Lin’s performance in last night’s game — he did have a bunch of turnovers. But ESPN managed to use a racial slur that applied specifically to the athlete in question — no excuses here.