JUST IN: Adam Schefter Apologizes To Sports World Over ‘Insensitive’ Dwayne Haskins Tweet

By Amiliano FragosoApr 11th, 2022, 6:22 pm
 

Chris Keane/Getty Images

So much happened this weekend in sports that the Adam Schefter incident barely seemed to register, but after two days the ESPN insider has finally apologized for his reporting on Dwayne Haskins’ death.

If you didn’t catch it, former Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins passed away in Florida this weekend after he was struck by a dump truck Saturday morning.

The death prompted ESPN’s lead football guy to tweet the news, but he did so in an incredibly perplexing and frankly idiotic way — commenting on Haskins’ struggles in the NFL.

The insensitive tweet has since been deleted but not before others could screenshot or retweet it. Another Buckeye QB, Cardale Jones, did exactly that and tore in Schefter, writing, “Let his family & friends grieve instead of throwing shade.”

Since then, others have come out and showed their disdain as well, including former Dallas Cowboy Dez Bryant and former ESPN journalist Josina Anderson.

And now over two days later, Schefter has finally come out and publicly apologized to Haskins and his family, doing so on his podcast Monday.

“First I want to address the death of Dwayne Haskins and the tweet that I posted this weekend,” Schefter started. “It was insensitive, it was a mistake, and I can assure you is not my intention.”

He continued:

I wish I could have that tweet back, the focus should have been on Dwayne. Who he was as a person, a husband, a friend, and so much more. I wanted to apologize to Dwayne’s family, his friends, the players in the National Football League and offer my condolences to everybody close to Dwayne and in the way I failed Saturday.

I wanted to turn people’s attention to make sure that Dwayne is remember properly after his outstanding career at Ohio State, which led him to become a first round draft pick. Most recently Dwayne appreciated the opportunity that the Steelers had given him and he was responding to it. Everyday when he left practice, he would bump fist with head coach Mike Tomlin, with general manager Kevin Kolbert, and with team president Art Rooney, which was his way of showing that he was grateful to be a part of the organization.

The apology continued for a few minutes after as the ESPN insider explained the impact he had in Pittsburgh in just a short amount of time:

He was as active as any Steeler in the community. Never saying no to anything the team requested, going to food drives around Thanksgiving with turkeys, and taking kids shopping for toys around Christmas. He did work in the community without the team asking or even knowing he did it.

He immersed himself in the community, and he’d become a part of it. Just a few weeks ago, he went on a Steelers fan cruise and by the end of it, he was the most popular player on that cruise and they wanted him to come back. He was known for his smile, his current heart and his dreams and sadly and tragically those were all snuffed out before they could become a reality.

Haskins was a month shy of his 25th birthday and had been training with other Steelers members in Florida when his life tragically ended.

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