ESPN roasted for referring to DeSean Jackon’s anti-Semitic posts as 'controversial' in headline, tweet
'Controversial is running the ball on 3rd and long,' one Twitter critic wrote in response
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}ESPN was ridiculed Wednesday for labeling Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackon’s recent anti-Semitic social media posts as merely “controversial.”
Jackson came under fire over the weekend for promoting quotes falsely attributed to Adolf Hitler and praising noted anti-Semitic preacher Louis Farrakhan. He eventually apologized and put out a video explaining the posts.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former NBA player Stephen Jackson defended the NFL star, saying he was "speaking the truth."
But ESPN found out how sensitive the topic is while covering the story when it tweeted, “Stephen Jackson defended DeSean Jackson on Tuesday night, saying the Eagles WR was speaking the truth’ with his controversial social media posts.”
ESPN was ridiculed Wednesday for labeling Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackon’s recent anti-Semitic social media posts as simply “controversial.”
The tweet accompanied a story that similarly headlined, “Stephen Jackson says Eagles' DeSean Jackson 'speaking the truth' with controversial posts.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Politico reporter Jake Sherman responded, “Controversial? It wasn't controversial it was anti-Semitic, and purporting to quote Hitler.”
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}ESPN did call Jackson’s remarks “anti-Semitic” in the body of the story, but many other critics rushed to Twitter condemned the headline and tweet:
ESPN declined to comment when reached by Fox News.
Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.