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"Chink In The Armor" Fallout: Fired ESPN Employee Writes Long Apology

Ben Yakas

Published Feb 22, 2012

Modified Feb 22, 2012

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Ben Yakas

Published Feb 22, 2012

Modified Feb 22, 2012

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The former ESPN writer who was fired for using the headline "chink in the armor" in reference to Knicks star Jeremy Lin has spoken out once again to give his side of the incident. Anthony Federico, who previously apologized for using the phrase to the Daily News earlier this week, apologized to Lin again over TwitLonger: "I wrote the headline in reference to the tone of the column and not to Jeremy Lin’s race. It was a lapse in judgment and not a racist pun. It was an awful editorial omission and it cost me my job." Read his whole statement below.

I wrote the headline in reference to the tone of the column and not to Jeremy Lin’s race. It was a lapse in judgment and not a racist pun. It was an awful editorial omission and it cost me my job.

I owe an apology to Jeremy Lin and all people offended. I am truly sorry.

Actions speak louder than words. My words may have hurt people in that moment but my actions have always helped people. If those who vilify me would take a deeper look at my life they would see that I am the exact opposite of how some are portraying me.

They would see that on the day of the incident I got a call from a friend - who happens to be homeless - and rushed to his aid. He was collapsed on the side of the road due to exposure and hunger. They would see how I picked him up and got him a hotel room and fed him. They would see I used my vacation time last year to volunteer in the orphanages of Haiti. They would see how I ‘adopted’ an elderly Alzheimer’s patient and visited him every week for a year. They would see that every winter I organize a coat drive for those less fortunate in New Haven. They would see how I raised $10,000 for a friend in need when his kids were born four months premature. They would see how I have worked in soup kitchens and convalescent homes since I was a kid. They would see my actions speak louder than my words. They would see that these acts were not done for my glory, but for God’s. They would see that each day I live and will continue to live a life of joy and service.

It never has been or will be my intention to hurt anyone.

I wrote thousands and thousands and thousands of headlines in my five years at ESPN. There never was a problem with any of them and I was consistently praised as an employee - both personally and professionally. Two weeks prior to the incident I had my first column published on espnW.com. My career was taking off. Why would I throw that all away with a racist pun? This was an honest mistake.

It is also crucial that people know that the writer of the column had nothing to do with the headline. I wrote it and now I take responsibility for it.

I am actually a Knicks fan and an ardent supporter of Jeremy Lin. Not surprisingly, he has handled the entire situation with grace and class.

Now I have to find a new job and move on with my life.

My solace in this is that ‘all things work together for good for those who love the Lord.’ I praise God equally in the good times and the bad times.

-Anthony Federico

ESPN has also released a full independent examination and analysis of the incident, via the Poynter Review Project. Poynter ultimately found that Federico's mistake was "a lapse in judgment by an editor working without a net," and his punishment was entirely warranted; but they found that the 30-day suspension for anchor Max Bretos, who used the phrase on air, was "too harsh." They found that there was no sign he was "trying to be snarky or clever," but rather that Bretos was speaking off-the-cuff "with no chance to review his or her words. Flubs and slips of the tongue are a hazard of the trade," they wrote.

They identified a crucial factor that may partially explain the severity of the punishments: "Earlier in the week, racial sensitivity regarding the Lin storyline was a topic in the company’s monthly editorial board meeting, and ESPN issued a memo to all its content groups urging staffers to be cognizant of how Lin was discussed—a directive that was revisited in a Friday staff meeting."

Jeff Yang, the Tao Jones columnist for The Wall Street Journal Online, talked to us yesterday about the fallout from the headline, and agreed that ESPN made the right decision to fire Federico:

Ten years from now, no one is going to say, "Oh, Anthony Federico, that dude made a huge mistake"; but the front-page "chink in the armor" reference may go down in history as a massive gaffe on the part of ESPN, and that's a big problem for them.

Bottom line: Anthony Federico wasn't fired for being a racist, he was fired for making a massively bad editorial decision that potentially cost ESPN — that is to say, Disney — huge amounts of goodwill with key audiences in the U.S. and Asia.

Tagged

apologies

basketball

chink in the armor

espn

headlines

jeremy lin

knicks

linsanity

nba

Ben Yakas

Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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