- The way ESPN Insider handled Alabama football player Aaron Douglas’s death today was appalling. There are no other options.
Jacksonville police discovered offensive lineman Douglas, 21, dead. His death’s circumstances are unclear.
The headline on the Alabama football website on ESPN Insider’s Crimson Tide news feed said, “Shocker at LT.” One line of writing, “Possible starter found dead in Jacksonville, opening door for five-star signee Cyrus Kouandjio,” appeared beneath that.
The article has been taken down as of 3:10 p.m. ET, however the heading still points to the site’s Rumor Central feature.
One user shared a screenshot of the blurb on Twitter, with a line beneath the rumor that said, “Subscribe to Insider for as low as $2.50/month to access the complete rumor.” Holly Anderson is, incidentally, an editor for our rival SBNation.com. Even when I visited ESPN.com using a browser I’ve never used to log into Insider, I was unable to see that line.
What a callous reply.
The death of a young guy is reported as if it were a football game-related incident that happened on the pitch. The course of treatment would not have changed much if Douglas had pulled his hamstring.
It took me a minute to realize that the headline’s “LT” stood for “left tackle,” not for any location or activity where Douglas might have been.
Even the manner of Douglas’s death is unknown. Given how recent the story and the news are, it’s likely that Douglas’s body is still in the location where it was discovered.
Nevertheless, ESPN managed to characterize it as a chance, a “open door,” for the player following in line.
Then, if the screen grab wasn’t altered, they utilized it to promote their membership service? That is simply abhorrent.
Update: The blurb was modified as of 3:40 p.m. ET with the following: “Alabama offensive tackle Aaron Douglas was found dead in Fernandina Beach, Fla., early Thursday.” The subhead read, “Alabama lineman Douglas found dead in Florida.” The story by Chris Low, which is not protected by the Insider paywall, is linked in the headline.
Update 2: The Rumor Central article by Albert Lin that was linked in the initial paragraph has been posted by Deadspin. Apparently, Rumor Central had taken down the link when I looked, but the blurb pointing to it hadn’t. The entire two-paragraph essay is offensive in the same manner.
