ESPN has corrected a viral tweet about WNBA players leaving the court during the national anthem.
ESPN tweeted a video Saturday of players from the New York Liberty and the Seattle Storm leaving the court, and wrote, “As the national anthem was played, the @nyliberty and @seattlestorm walked off the floor as part of the social justice initiative.” (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
The video was viewed by more than 10 million people and was all over the internet. There’s just one major problem. It’s apparently not true.
As the national anthem was played, the @nyliberty and @seattlestorm walked off the floor as part of the social justice initiative. pic.twitter.com/VihH5X3Yzh
— ESPN (@espn) July 25, 2020
ESPN tweeted late Saturday night, “Correction: Players left the court before the national anthem was played, not during.”
As of right now, the original video is still up.
Correction: Players left the court before the national anthem was played, not during. https://t.co/MdW7HtMO1P
— ESPN (@espn) July 26, 2020
Honestly, this is so embarrassing for the WNBA. People care so little about the league that ESPN, which prides itself on being the worldwide leader in sports, didn’t even get the story right.
It’s almost like ESPN wasn’t actually paying attention to the game.
This is not accurate. The teams decided to respectfully stay in the locker room for the anthem. This is not an accurate representation of what happened. As you can hear the anthem was NOT playing. @wnba @nyliberty @seattlestorm @espn https://t.co/Hqc20Ul0WE
— Holly Rowe (@sportsiren) July 26, 2020
Secondly, why is the original tweet with the video saying players walked off during the anthem still up?
Shouldn’t that have been taken down as soon as it was revealed that it wasn’t true? I’m guessing it’s staying up because it’s without a doubt the most viral moment the WNBA has ever had.
It’s been watched more than 10 million times!
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What an absolute gigantic mess for absolutely everyone involved. It’s a tough look to say the least.