Following the tragic loss of the Basketball icon Kobe Bryant yesterday in an unfortunate helicopter crash, the whole sporting fandom around the globe, along with major media houses have joined together to pay tribute to the legend. However, one broadcaster which you would never expect to, BBC, has made the most embarrassing blunder possible, by using the footage of NBA superstar LeBron James in a tribute video of Kobe!
In yesterday’s News At Ten programme, BBC played a video regarding the unfortunate accident, while a voice over narrated the details of the mishap. After a picture of Kobe and his daughter Gianna Bryant, a clip of Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James started playing.
“Kobe Bryant’s daughter Gianna was travelling with him, and also died” after speaking about Gigi, the narrator shifted on the NBA icon’s career.
“His list of achievements is long. AN All-Star, an NBA champion, and an Olympic gold medallist, he was unashamedly competitive, and he was deeply frustrated when his playing career was cut short by injuries.” as the narrator continued talking about Kobe’s achievements, the video was showing a footage of LeBron James in action.
There was an immediate reaction from the viewers, expressing displeasure over the usage of wrong video footage and reproved BCC for this major error.
Matthew Champion, deputy world news editor for BuzzFeed in London, uploaded the clip on his official Twitter handle, with the caption: “I genuinely cannot believe that the actual BBC News at 10 just did this.” Check it out below-
I genuinely cannot believe that the actual BBC News at 10 just did this pic.twitter.com/n6csMV9OOG
— Matthew Champion (@matthewchampion) January 26, 2020
After realising the blunder, British journalist Reeta Chakrabarti, who is a newsreader and correspondent for BBC News apologised for the oversight: In our coverage of the death of Kobe Bryant, in one section of the report, we mistakenly showed pictures of another basketball player, LeBron James. We do apologize for the error.”
However, the spectators and fans weren’t happy with the mistake, and lashed out at BBC all over social media, asking to submit complaint, and even accusing the British broadcasting company for racism.
Soon after Paul Royall, Editor of BBC News tweeted an official apology. “In tonight’s coverage of the death of Kobe Bryant on #BBCNewsTen we mistakenly used pictures of LeBron James in one section of the report. We apologise for this human error which fell below our usual standards on the programme.” Royall wrote on Twitter.
In tonight’s coverage of the death of Kobe Bryant on #BBCNewsTen we mistakenly used pictures of LeBron James in one section of the report. We apologise for this human error which fell below our usual standards on the programme.
— Paul Royall (@paulroyall) January 26, 2020
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