US SPORTS TELEVISION network ESPN has apologised for using a racial slur in a headline for a story on basketball star Jeremy Lin.
ESPN ran the headline “Chink in the Armor” on its mobile website after Lin had nine turnovers in the New York Knicks’ loss to the New Orleans Hornets in their NBA clash on Friday night.
The offensive headline could be seen on mobile and tablet devices before it was later removed.
Lin is the NBA’s first American-born player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent who’s unexpected dominance on the court sparked a seven-game winning streak and led him taking on a cult following, or ‘Linsanity’, akin to that enjoyed by American football star and devout Christian Tim Tebow.
ESPN said in a statement yesterday that it removed the headline 35 minutes after it was posted.
The network said it is “conducting a complete review of our cross-platform editorial procedures and are determining appropriate disciplinary action to ensure this does not happen again. We regret and apologise for this mistake.”
The story was first reported by Outsports.com which has a screengrab of the controversial headline.
- additional reporting from AP
