ESPN NFL reporter Adam Schefter broke the news of Dwayne Haskins’ death via Twitter Saturday. Once many overcame the shock that the former NFL QB was killed, focus shifted to the choice of words Schefter used in his initial tweet.
“Dwayne Haskins, a standout at Ohio State before struggling to catch on with Washington and Pittsburgh.”
Former Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones was the first to call out Schefter for the since-deleted insensitive tweet.
Saturday and Sunday passed with no apology and many more followed suit with Jones. Even other sports media personalities ripped Schefter.
On Monday, Schefter finally responded by apologizing to Haskins, his family, friends and the rest of the NFL community on his podcast for the misguided tweet.
“First I wanted to address the death of Dwayne Haskins and the tweet that I posted this weekend,” Schefter started. “It was insensitive. It was a mistake. And I can assure you it was not my intention. I wish that I could have that tweet back.”
“The focus should have been on Dwayne, who he was as a person, a husband, a friend, and so much more. I wanted to apologize to Dwayne’s family, his friends, the players in the National Football League, and offer my condolences to everybody close to Dwayne.”
Adam Schefter didn’t address why it took him so long to apologize. However, he used the rest of the audio tweet giving a tribute to Haskins. It’s unclear how suffice Schefter’s apology was for many close to Haskins.
His apology certainly doesn’t excuse him from his original tweet. However, at least he spoke on his mistake and apologized. Given his current stature with ESPN, he could have easily remained silent and let the public heat towards him settle down
