An ESPN host, Dari Nowkhah, asked a college football quarterback about the death of one of his coach’s family members without realizing the quarterback didn’t know yet.
As Louisiana news outlet the Advocate explained, Carley McCord, the daughter-in-law of Louisiana State University offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger, was one of five people killed in a plane crash Dec. 27. ESPN host Dari Nowkhah was covering the LSU football game and asked quarterback Joe Burrow about McCord’s death after the game. But, Burrow didn’t know about the plane crash yet.
The next day, Nowkhah tweeted about what happened. ESPN declined to comment to iMediaEthics beyond Nowkhah’s tweets.
“There’s understandably so much sensitivity surrounding yesterday‘s tragedy involving the LSU family. I’m so sorry for the way we handled the end of our postgame interview with Joe Burrow last night,” Nowkhah wrote. “I obviously feel horrible to have been the one to have broken the news of Carley McCord’s passing to Joe, and have shared my apologies and sincere condolences with LSU.”
“Our live interview with Joe was several hours after the news broke & was a major storyline of last night’s game. With that said, we shouldn’t have assumed he was aware, and that’s on us,” he continued. “We never intended to hurt Joe & we will learn from this mistake. My heart goes out to the McCord & Ensminger families, and the entire LSU family, during this incredibly tragic time. I hope they, including LSU fans, will accept this apology. “
During the interview, when Nowkhah asked, Burrow said he didn’t know about the crash, ESPN said they didn’t know he didn’t know and after a few seconds, the interview ended.
Hat Tip: The Spun