The BBC came under some serious heat after showing footage of LeBron James during what was supposed to be an obituary montage of Kobe Bryant, and now the network has issued an apology for the mixup. In a statement, BBC reporter Reeta Chakrabarti said, “In our coverage of the death of Kobe Bryant, in one section of the report, we mistakenly showed pictures of another basketball player, LeBron James. We do apologise for the error.” Later, BBC News at Six and Ten editor Paul Royall also issued an apology on behalf of the network, saying that he and the rest of his team truly understand the gravity of the mistake.
In tonight’s coverage of the death of Kobe Bryant on #BBCNewsTen we mistakenly used pictures of LeBron James in one section of the report. We apologise for this human error which fell below our usual standards on the programme.
— Paul Royall (@paulroyall) January 26, 2020
Many social media users are not ready to accept the apologies, however, as one individual tweeted back, “The fact you let it go on air when the man’s name is on his shirt lays bare your shoddy standards, ingrained racism, or both. Everyone in the chain of command for that piece should be sacked. There is no excuse for it.”
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“Humans also check things before they go out, especially when talking about the biggest basketball player of his generation. This was intentional and you at the BBC need to sort out this mess,” another viewer chided. “Not all Black people are the same. There’s no way this could have happened mistakenly.”
This is not an error that a Human can make.
— Nathan D Ndlovu (@Nate_Esq) January 26, 2020
Apology not accepted.
That said, I can give you lot some DIVERSITY training provided you waiver my License Fee.
“Another in long line of careless and catastrophic errors. Editorial standards on @BBCNews at an all-time low. Catalogue of ‘mistakes’ and cover-ups involving Boris Johnson, blatantly biased Brexit and election coverage and now this. Not forgetting you’ve axed Victoria Derbyshire,” someone else wrote.
“It said James on the back of his vest though, so I don’t understand how this could have happened. Are there methods in place to prevent this from happening again!” one other user exclaimed.
ZERO diversity in ur newsroom and edit room, it’s EVIDENTLY CLEAR NOW. How about doing something more than apologizing and ACTUALLY HIRING #PoC? Might’ve caught this. #reparations are long overdue anyway. Start with THAT very small gesture. #bbcfacup @BBCNews @BBCBreaking pic.twitter.com/jzPkvhy9DB
— 🖖🏿☢️ NUCLEAR 🤯 PASTA 🍝 (@NeptuneDaze) January 27, 2020
Bryant, 41, was killed in a tragic helicopter accident on Sunday, that also claimed the life of his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, as well as seven other people who were on-board. The incident is still under investigation.
