ESPN apologizes for big blunder during Heat-Knicks game

Jan. 4, 2011; New Orleans, LA, USA; ESPN logo prior to the 2011 Sugar Bowl between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Louisiana Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

ESPN aired an unfortunate image during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals series between the Miami Heat and New York Knicks on Sunday, and the network has since issued an apology.

Coming out of a commercial break at halftime, ABC/ESPN showed a clip of Stephen Curry arriving at the Golden State Warriors’ game against the Sacramento Kings, which took place later in the day. After Curry was shown, the network aired an image that showed the Statue of Liberty. The Twin Towers were visible in the background.

Pay attention at the end. How old is this footage ABC is using?! Wtf is goin on here?! pic.twitter.com/254YhBzE1R

— Khaled Abdallah (@khaled74) April 30, 2023

Obviously, the footage ESPN used was more than two decades old. That would typically go unnoticed, but the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers are, of course, no longer standing after they were hit by planes during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Ben Cafardo, who works in communications at ESPN, addressed the blunder in an email to Awful Announcing.

“We mistakenly used an old stock image and we apologize,” Cafardo wrote.

ESPN will likely play closer attention to the footage and images they use going forward.

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