ESPN launched a 28-hour programming marathon to promote fantasy football Monday, and it wasn’t long before a related segment caught some people’s attention. Playing off the “auction” format of selecting fantasy teams, the network interspersed its coverage with a more elaborate version, in which a fast-talking auctioneer got the bidding going on a number of well-known NFL players.
A Twitter user uploaded a clip of Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. being “sold” at the auction, and given the racial dynamics, with the auctioneer, the winning bidder and almost everyone else in the scene being white, many responded online with reactions ranging from eye rolls to outrage. Even Beckham declared himself “speechless” at the scene.
Some claimed that the clip, and others like it showing black players being auctioned off, were taken out of context and that white players were put up for auction as well. Others noted that the auction format dramatized by ESPN is widely used in fantasy leagues and is a way to create a fairer, more competitive process of allocating players to a league’s teams, as opposed to the more standard “snake” drafts, in which participants take turns selecting players in a preset order.
New York Daily News columnist Shaun King said on Twitter, “Dear @ESPN, Apologize now for doing a sketch where you auctioned a Black man off to the highest bidder.” He added, “I know what it is. The optics are TERRIBLE.”
Other NFL players, such as Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan and Rams defensive end Dominique Easley, also expressed dismay and confusion with ESPN’s staged auction.
while I understand what their intent was meant to be, their chosen method of pursuing their intent was very poorly thought out IMO
"Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things." George Carlin
Nowadays it seems like there is a group it there that is offended by something so no matter what you do someone will be upset. Granted ESPN went overboard with the selling thing.
Outside of a rare 30 for 30 or some other "film", documentary, I do not watch or listen to ESPN. They lost me years ago. If the Bears are not on MNF, I do not watch. That channel/network has just went down the drain big time.
