[VIDEO] ABC Airs Offensive Image of The Statue of Liberty and is Forced to Apologize 

ABC and ESPN have come under fire for airing an offensive image of the Statue of Liberty during an NBA playoff game. The shot featured the iconic statue, with the Twin Towers visible in the background.

This image is particularly sensitive given the tragic events of 9/11, when thousands of lives were lost in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. Many viewers were outraged that ABC and ESPN would allow such a disrespectful image to be aired, and social media was flooded with angry comments about the broadcast.

Awful Announcing reported that the New York Knicks hosted the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals on Sunday. During halftime, ABC ran a promotion showing Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry arriving for his team’s playoff game against the Sacramento Kings, which aired after the Heat and Knicks finished.

As ABC went to a commercial, it showed a shot of the Statue of Liberty. Only, this shot was clearly more than 20 years old.

Normally, that wouldn’t be such a big deal, if it was even noticeable. But in this case, behind the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, which collapsed shortly after planes flew into them on September 11, 2001, were clearly visible.

Idiots. 
 

This did in fact air on ABC. https://t.co/hsDSYXQUg6 pic.twitter.com/mnOFk8hvrd

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 30, 2023

Yes, stock videos are often used and occasionally, there will be something in the video that dates the footage. Maybe it doesn’t show a building that has since been built or focuses on something from years ago, like an old political poster or something along those lines. In a city like New York, which hosts many events, you’d like to think that a network would try to use more up-to-date videos. But more often than not, it’s forgettable.

ESPN issued an apology: “We mistakenly used an old stock image and we apologize.”

Gee, how heartfelt.

The person overseeing this flub was probably a millennial who never even heard of “9/11.”