ESPN’s Insensitive Jeremy Lin Headline: “Chink in the Armor” [Update: ESPN Apologizes]

All, Jeremy Lin, Media Gossip/Musings, Race Jason McIntyre February 18th. 2012, 8:02am

Jeremy Lin and the Knicks lost to the Hornets Friday, ending a 7-game winning streak, and this is the headline ESPN.com went with overnight. It has since been removed.

Somebody’s getting fired. Who could possibly think this is an acceptable headline?

Update: ESPN released an apology.

Last night, ESPN.com’s mobile web site posted an offensive headline referencing Jeremy Lin at 2:30 am ET. The headline was removed at 3:05 am ET. We are 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 apologize for this mistake.

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38 Responses to “ESPN’s Insensitive Jeremy Lin Headline: “Chink in the Armor” [Update: ESPN Apologizes]”

1
YoungmanU2 Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 8:21 AM
Incredible. Perhaps they hired Floyd “the rant” Mayweather to do their headlines.
2
cracker jack Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 8:24 AM
Yeahhh… that’s not just a ‘mistake’. They better acknowledge this actually happened.
3
Clayton Cargill Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 8:27 AM
I wonder just how many times JMac typed racist and then backspaced and then typed it again, before finally settling on insensitive. I bet it was more than one.
4
sousedbergin Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 8:31 AM
A filthy mouth will not utter decent language.
5
Chief Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 8:32 AM
I’m disappointed in myself that I was actually surprised by it.
6
Clayton Cargill Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 8:33 AM
Maybe a headline writer finally just got angry, given ESPN’s “everything about Lin is great” slant of the past week.
7
Curtis the Close talker Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 8:36 AM
Someone here, when Lin was taking off, said some dumb player will say something insensitive. Players are fine. The media on the other hand…Even Jonah Keri went the “yellow mamba” route on twitter – and when his followers called him out, he said not his fault – he didn’t start it.
8
Snedds Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 8:40 AM
So has Lin lost his kung-fu grip on the league?
9
coop247 Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 8:58 AM
Seems like a Rorschach test to me. A non-racist would recognize the common platitude (h/t duffy), where as a racist would see racism. Therefore you are all racist.
10
bsanders37 Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 9:13 AM
Match in the gas tank…boom boom.
11
aschick41 Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 9:19 AM
Just waiting for ESPN’s full slant on this story.
12
captain_spalding Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 9:20 AM
“everything about Lin is great” slant of the past week.
Slant?Slant!
Man this shit runs deep.
13
The Wayne Fontes Safari Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 9:22 AM
Not surprisingly, his report on the arrest of Jeffrey Dahmer was titled Stink in the Armoire
14
aschick41 Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 9:25 AM
Ah man. Didn’t realize Clayton had already taken the “slant” joke. Dang it.
15
St. Bear Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 9:30 AM
We are conducting a complete review of our cross-platform editorial procedures and are determining appropriate disciplinary action to ensure this does not happen again.
I hate these kind of apologies. Just say it was a mistake and you’re sorry.
16
ScubaSteve007 Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 9:35 AM
Apparently ESPN also used the same headline regarding Asian basketball players in the past.
http://jimromenesko.com/2012/02/18/really-espn/
17
FredSanford Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 9:44 AM
On an unrelated and possibly Duckworth’d topic, Sportscenter yesterday evening was heavy on Michael Jordan’s birthday and totally lacking of any mention of Gary Carter.
Does anyone know where ‘Chink’ comes from?
18
Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez has the highest WAR evah! Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 9:52 AM
On an unrelated and possibly Duckworth’d topic, Sportscenter yesterday evening was heavy on Michael Jordan’s birthday and totally lacking of any mention of Gary Carter.
even though Gary Carter played in NYC? wow.
19
Dougb0001 Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 9:57 AM
1992 Albertville Olympics….Short Track Speed Skating…CBC’s Steve Armitage with the call on the final lap of a very tight race….it was between the Koreans and Canada for Gold….”Canada has been nipped at the line by the South Koreans and will take home silver” classic
20
MP III Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 10:01 AM
Unreal the amount of racist shit that has been said about this dude with no repercussions. I wonder if tbl has threatened to kick people off the site for recent Asian jokes……
21
Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez has the highest WAR evah! Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 10:14 AM
Unreal the amount of racist shit that has been said about this dude with no repercussions. I wonder if tbl has threatened to kick people off the site for recent Asian jokes……
for real
22
TexansFan Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 10:14 AM
real the amount of racist shit th been said about this dude with no repercussions. I wonder if tbl has threatened to kick people off the s recent Asian jokes……
With a Kung Fu fist
23
TexansFan Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 10:20 AM
Or was that grip? I can’t keep up with the memes started by TBL
24
CLTindian Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 10:40 AM
Wasn’t this inevitable? I guess the headline writers ran out of creative puns and word plays.
25
Caribou Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 10:48 AM
In this day of OHR, Diversity Training, etc, how the fock did this get thru the censors/proof readers? I mean, I can’t believe someone looked it, re-read it and said “Oh yeah, That’s gold Jerry, gold!“
26
Mantis Toboggan Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 10:53 AM
Whatever
27
pRohphet8 Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 10:57 AM
Can someone please explain “Duckworth’d”? Thank you….
28
Senator Jersey Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 11:04 AM
Dim Sum.
29
oskie Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 11:20 AM
i like ESPN’s byline under the current Knicks headline: “Jeremy Lin got sloppy Friday and it cost the Knicks in the end”
he’s been sloppy the entire time, and they have just overcame it.
30
Jason Lisk Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 11:26 AM
Can someone please explain “Duckworth’d”? Thank you….
I’ll do my best to pass down the legend as retold to me. Apparently, when Kevin Duckworth died, at various points throughout posts, people kept coming in and saying that Kevin Duckworth had died. It came to represent a story that has already been discussed in the comments section.
So the /duckworth’d is used when anyone comes in and drops a link or mentions a story that has already been mentioned previously in the comments.
31
pRohphet8 Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 11:45 AM
Excellent JL, thank you very much….
32
rodmansrage Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 12:21 PM
they ran the same headline when the us played hoops against the chinese, its not new for them.
33
starkweather Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 12:29 PM
Menarky wants people kicked off for racism? TBL wants people in the media to apologize for racist Jeremy Lin puns? 10000 spoons and all that
34
Gonzo Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 2:39 PM
I think there’s enough of a rapport in here to realize that there is no hatred in the so-called racist comments. It’s humor. Sure, we would all feel better if our friend Hiro Nakatami came here to laugh with us and tell us it’s okay. But we don’t have tha tluxury.
35
jthussler Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 4:07 PM
Or was that grip? I can’t keep up with the memes started by TBL
Agree completely.
36
jthussler Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 4:07 PM
BL wants people in the media to apologize for racist Jeremy Lin puns?
He wants to put them in a Kung-Fu grip!
37
Jim Harbaugh Scramble Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 4:26 PM
Seems like a Rorschach test to me. A non-racist would recognize the common platitude (h/t duffy), where as a racist would see racism. Therefore you are all racist.
Agree with Coop on this one.
38
Jim Harbaugh Scramble Says:
February 18th, 2012 at 4:28 PM
Can someone please explain “Duckworth’d”? Thank you….
lol.