ESPN falsely reported that Jacob Blake was unarmed when he was shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, before issuing a misleading correction hours later.
“The NBA and WNBA postponed a full slate of playoff games after another unarmed black man, Jacob Blake, was shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin during the NBA’s restart in Orlando, Florida in August, 2020,” reported ESPN’s Adam Wojnarowski.
Wojnarowski made the false claim in a report about the NBA’s response to the Derek Chauvin trial, with the league telling teams to expect “possible protests, civil unrest and team reactions in the aftermath of a verdict” that could lead to “a night or two of league games being postponed.”
Closing arguments begin Monday in the high-profile trial, with Chauvin facing charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd last May. Chauvin has pleaded not guilty.
Many NBA teams and star players have been vocal about social justice causes in the wake of Floyd’s death, a trend that only intensified in the aftermath of Blake’s shooting later last year.
“ESPN incorrectly reported that Jacob Blake was unarmed when he was shot seven times by Kenosha, Wisconsin, police,” ESPN said in a correction at the bottom of the story. “Blake said in an interview with Good Morning America on Jan. 14, 2021, that he was carrying a small pocket knife, which he said he had initially dropped.”
ESPN’s inaccurate report remained on the site for more than four hours before the outlet’s correction. But the correction left out key facts, including Blake’s admission that he picked up the knife he had “initially dropped.”
“I’m rattled, you know?” Blake said in the interview. “I realized I had dropped my knife, had a little pocket knife. So I picked it up after I got off of him because they Tased me, and I fell on top of him.”
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Blake acknowledged during the interview that it was a mistake to pick up the knife, an admission left out of ESPN’s correction.
“I’m not really worried,” Blake said. “I’m walkin’ away from them, so it’s not like they gonna shoot me. I shouldn’t have picked it up, only considering what was going on, you know? At that time, I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
ESPN did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
