ESPN was caught peddling a fake quote attributed to NBA player Ja Morant that came from a Twitter sports parody account on Tuesday.
During Tuesday’s This Just In, the cable sports station revved up an entire segment on how Morant supposedly discounted NBA GOAT Michael Jordan’s legacy.
The Twitter parody account claimed that Morant said, “Michael Jordan would be ‘just another superstar’ in today’s game—says today’s talent is at all-time high.”
In the tweet, the fake account added: “If you put MJ in today’s game, he’s just another superstar. We got me, Steph, Luka, Dame, Trae – and then guys like Bron, KD, Giannis, Kawhi – it’s not just one superstar and a bunch of you know, average dudes, you feel?”
However, it turns out that Morant never said any of this. Instead, journalist Taylor Rooks, who recently interviewed the player, and Morant himself both blasted ESPN for making a big deal out of a fake quote.
“He absolutely did not say this in the interview. And I can’t believe it was broadcast that he did. There should be a correction issued for that,” Rooks tweeted.
By Wednesday, the red-faced hosts of This Just In were forced to admit that their Tuesday report had become This Just Out.
“We made a mistake,” ESPN’s David Jacoby said. “We attributed a quote to Ja Morant’s appearances on Taylor Rooks’ show on Bleacher Report that he simply did not say. On behalf of the network, the show’s staff, and myself, I’d like to apologize to Ja and Taylor for our error. We will work hard to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
This is the second time in recent months that ESPN has been caught playing up the parody tweets from the Twitter account. According to the New York Daily News, Stephen A. Smith regurgitated the fake quote that NBA player James Harden said the Nets had reached the limit with vax-refuser Kyrie Irving, with Smith claiming Harden said Irving was “washed.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, or Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.