ESPN Deletes Post Celebrating 'Cop Killer'
ESPN’s SportsCenter committed a major blunder on Sunday with a tweet that celebrated a drug dealer and cop-killer before deleting the tweet and apologizing.
The tweet posted at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday featured a photo of actor Javon Walton in his role as teenager “Ashtray” from the HBO teen drama Euphoria. Ashtray, who died in a recent episode, was a drug user, a drug dealer, and a cop killer in the series.
ESPN deletes cringe ‘SportsCenter’ tweet with ‘Euphoria’ meme https://t.co/sO8naZjA5O pic.twitter.com/cLOXGesbKP
— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) March 1, 2022
Despite this character’s criminal lifestyle, along with the photo, ESPN added the caption, “Name an athlete as fearless as this guy.”
Did ESPN really mean to celebrate a character who is a cop killer and to wonder if athletes should be as “fearless” as the character is on the nearly pornographic TV series? Fans certainly wondered, and it wasn’t long before ESPN deleted the image and offered an apology for having posted it.
After a tidal wave of condemnation, ESPN deleted the tweet on Monday and posted a message reading, “The content posted was not in alignment with ESPN’s brand and we removed it.”
ESPN’s social media team may have been trying to be hip and edgy, but celebrating a fictional character who deals drugs and kills cops and then dies in a shootout with police seems to be the wrong way to appeal to younger viewers.
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