Chink in the Armor: ESPN Fires Writer Who Penned Controversial Headline (VIDEO)

ESPN has just cleaned house following an embarrassing gaffe in which a racist term was used in the headline of a story about New York Knicks breakout sensation Jeremy Lin.

The all sports network has just fired the writer who came up with the “Chink in the Armor” headline (pictured) that ran on their website earlier this week.

They have also suspended ESPN anchor Max Bretos for thirty days thanks to his “chink in the armor” comment in the video below.

Here is the full statement from ESPN:

At ESPN we are aware of three offensive and inappropriate comments made on ESPN outlets during our coverage of Jeremy Lin.

Saturday we apologized for two references here. We have since learned of a similar reference Friday on ESPN Radio New York. The incidents were separate and different. We have engaged in a thorough review of all three and have taken the following action:

- The ESPN employee responsible for our Mobile headline has been dismissed.
- The ESPNEWS anchor has been suspended for 30 days.
- The radio commentator is not an ESPN employee.

We again apologize, especially to Mr. Lin. His accomplishments are a source of great pride to the Asian-American community, including the Asian-American employees at ESPN. Through self-examination, improved editorial practices and controls, and response to constructive criticism, we will be better in the future.

Was this simply a case of a poor choice of words or was this blatant racism? It’s hard to be sure, but one has to think that someone at ESPN might have caught the fact that the word “chink” was printed beneath a photo of an Asian player.

It sounds like ESPN is going to the extreme to right this wrong, and when you’re a brand as big as ESPN (which is affiliated with ABC as well as Disney), that’s simply what has to be done.

Next time, hopefully their editors will catch something like this before it ever hits the web.

Related articles

• ESPN Uses ‘Chink In The Armor’ Headline For Jeremy Lin Story (sbnation.com)
• ESPN Apologizes For ‘Chink In The Armor’ Headline Aimed At Jeremy Lin (hiphopwired.com)
• ESPN Jeremy Lin Headline: ‘Chink In The Armor’ (sportsgrid.com)
• A Chink in the Armor? ESPN Publishes Racist Headline (inquisitr.com)