ESPN apologizes after backlash on fantasy football ‘auction’
The sports network drew criticism with a segment in which an audience made up of mostly white males bid on NFL players for their fantasy football teams.
ESPN apologized Tuesday after it faced a barrage of criticism for airing a fantasy football segment in which players were “auctioned” to a group of mainly white male sports fans.
At best, the bit was found to be tone deaf in the aftermath of the events in Charlottesville over the weekend. At worst, it was labeled downright racist.
Here’s how the auction played out on ESPN:
Soooooo ESPN just did an “auction” sketch ð¤ pic.twitter.com/zvezCItems
— Já´sá´É´ (@rjasonscales) August 14, 2017
ESPN sold Odell on an auction block to a crowd of White people. In 2017.
— DJ Steph Floss (@djstephfloss) August 15, 2017
They hosted a slave auction on ESPN and mascaraed it as a NFL draft
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