"I respect him for that" - Ryan Clark defends Adam Schefter's actions following outrage over insensitive Dwayne Haskins tweet
NFL insider Adam Schefter found himself in a bit of hot water yesterday after tweeting about Dwayne Haskins' early struggles in the the league.
The problem is that the message was relayed in the midst of Schefter informing the public that the 24-year old had passed away yesterday morning. Here is what Schefter initially posted on Twitter which caused the uproar:
“Dwayne Haskins, a standout at Ohio State before struggling to catch on with Washington and Pittsburgh in the NFL, died this morning when he got hit by a car in South Florida, per his agent Cedrick Saunders. Haskins would have turned 25 years old on May 3.”
How about “ Dwayne Haskins, son, husband, buckeye brother, friend, beloved teammate has passed away” TF his career ups and downs have to do with him unfortunately losing his life🤦🏾♂️ STFU! Let his family & friends grieve instead of throwing shade. Praying for the Haskins family!! https://t.co/gb1D9KcgCQ
The tweet caused an immediate uproar and the insider soon deleted and revised the tweet to omit the word "struggling."
ESPN colleague and NFL analyst Ryan Clark has stated that Schefter reached out to him personally to offer his apologies for the insensitive tweet about Haskins. Clark said the following:
“He did [apologize]… Without anyone telling him to reach out to me he did. I respect him for that. He was wrong. He admitted it. He also apologized multiple times.”
He did… Without anyone telling him to reach out to me he did. I respect him for that. He was wrong. He admitted it. He also apologized multiple times. twitter.com/40dbx4/status/…
While it seems that Ryan Clark has forgiven NFL insiders for the insensitive tweet about Dwayne Haskins, it remains to be seen if Haskins' family and friends have elected to do the same.
This isn't the first time that Adam Schefter has been in hot water
The insensitive tweet concerning Dwayne Haskins is not the first time that the NFL Insider has been in trouble with fans. In October of last year, the insider apologized for an email that he deemed inappropriate over ten years ago.
The email was sent back in 2011 to the general manager of the (then) Washington Redskins, Bruce Allen. At the time, the Washington franchise (similar to now) was being criticized, and before Schefter published the article for ESPN, he consulted Allen and asked him to edit it and make any changes needed.
The outrage from fans and media alike caused the former University of Michigan alum to then release the following message:
"Fair questions are being asked about my reporting approach to an NFL lockout story from 10 years ago. Just to clarify, it’s common practice to verify facts of a story with sources before you publish in order to be as accurate as possible. In this case, I took the rare step of sending the full story in advance because of the complex nature of the collective bargaining talks.”
He concluded his statement with the following:
“It was a step too far and, looking back, I shouldn’t have done it. The criticism being levied is fair. With that said, I want to make this perfectly clear: in no way did I, or would I, cede editorial control or hand over the final say about a story to anyone, ever."
Here is hoping that the journalist has learned from each of these incidents and will provide news-breaking headlines in a manner that is conducive and sensitive to all.