ESPN issued an apology after coming under fire for the bad optics of a fantasy football segment featuring an auction draft.
Many criticized the scene, part of the 28-hour fantasy marathon, for resembling a modern-day slave auction as it seemed black players were “sold” to male bidders, who were mostly white.
“Apologize now for doing a sketch where you auctioned a black man off to the highest bidder,” New York Daily News journalist, Shaun King, tweeted.
Dear @ESPN,
Apologize now for doing a sketch where you auctioned a Black man off to the highest bidder. pic.twitter.com/D8SC1cjhBU
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 15, 2017
Others also slammed the network for its bad idea and even worse timing, coming just days after white nationalists, anti-fascist protesters and other extreme groups clashed in Virginia over the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a Charlottesville park. The violence left three dead, including 32 year-old counter-protester Heather Heyer who died when 20 year-old James Alex Fields allegedly drove his car into a crowd.
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What if I told you ESPN made one of its biggest gaffes ever at the worst time possible? ESPN’s 30 For 30… The Auction Sketch
— Dart_Adams (@Dart_Adams) August 15, 2017
Soooooo ESPN just did an “auction” sketch ? pic.twitter.com/zvezCItems
— Jᴀsᴏɴ (@rjasonscales) August 14, 2017
So @espn who’s idea was it to auction off football players ?? U guys might wanna address this optic sooner than later
— OldMan Ebro (@oldmanebro) August 15, 2017
“Auction drafts are a common part of fantasy football, and ESPN’s segments replicated an auction draft with a diverse slate of top professional football players,” the network apologized in a statement Tuesday. “Without that context, we understand the optics could be portrayed as offensive, and we apologize.”
In the tweeted video segment, an auctioneer announced, “Next on the auction block, we have Odell Beckham Jr.”
The piece ends when the black New York Giants wide receiver is “sold” for $34 to a white man called “Shiny Top.”
ESPN sold Odell on an auction block to a crowd of White people. In 2017.
— DJ Steph Floss (@djstephfloss) August 15, 2017
Bum ass espn running out of ideas…. pic.twitter.com/4QVTtncN6R
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) August 16, 2017
But many on social media pushed back on the narrative, pointing out that white NFL players were also being auctioned and the spoof was a non-issue.
Fam-The optics aren’t good-agreed. But it was replicating Fantasy Football auctions–whites up for bid too.
We appreciate you. https://t.co/oTVl1pkJku— Kenny Mayne (@Kenny_Mayne) August 15, 2017
I understand man.
Have you seen Get Out?
As a general rule, white men NEVER need to be bidding for Black men on the auction block.
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 15, 2017
Let the people that are actually black decide what’s offensive to us please….. We appreciate u tho
— ㅤ (@eff_yo_tweets2) August 15, 2017
I’m with you on 99.8% of things, but this is a type of fantasy football draft, auction style, where all players are auctioned off. Calm down
— Ernie Estrella (@ErnieEstrella) August 15, 2017
I know you want to be quick on the pulse of social injustice but here you’re simply taking this out of context w/out enough info.
— Ernie Estrella (@ErnieEstrella) August 15, 2017
Yeah man, I whole heartedly agree with what you’re doing, exposing racists and Nazis. But this is just a fantasy football draft
— That One Asshole (@jeffromcclellan) August 15, 2017
you are seriously what’s dividing this nation Shaun. This is clearly a Fantasy Football sketch. You need to stop.
— Truth Exposed (@QuakeDawg) August 15, 2017
Another pathetic example of a misguided hack attempting to further the racial divide by disregarding context to put forth a narrative #sad
— John Colby (@John_Colby21) August 15, 2017
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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