ESPN is being criticized on social media for failing to broadcast a moment of silence and the American national anthem at the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Thursday in the wake of a terrorist attack in New Orleans.
The attack, which occurred on New Year’s Day, forced organizers for the College Football Playoff quarterfinal game (held at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans) to push it back from Wednesday night to Thursday afternoon.
That decision was made by the bowl’s committee in consultation with ESPN, the Southeastern Conference (which has a relationship with the game) and the two schools involved – the University of Notre Dame and the University of Georgia.
After law enforcement searched and cleared the area of any potential hazards, the game went on as scheduled on Thursday afternoon. Before the game kicked off, the American national anthem was played (as is custom before sporting events in the US) and a moment of silence to honor the victims of the attack were held.
But neither of these moments – the anthem or the silence – were shown on ESPN as the network instead had a studio show breaking down the game.
This decision was criticized on social media – with plenty of people upset that the Worldwide Leader in Sports would choose to not show the two events.
ESPN made the decision to not show a minutes silence or the national anthem from the Sugar Bowl live on its airwaves after the terrorist attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day
After the anthem and the silence took place, the broadcast did show images of the observance
ESPN also showed Notre Dame and Georgia fans observing the silence before the game began
While condemnation of the network was widespread, many decided to bash the company for being ‘woke’ with some suggesting that ESPN’s parent company, Disney, may have had something to do with it.
‘Not showing the national anthem after a damn terrorist attack just miles away is classic @espn f’you…,’ wrote one user on X, formerly Twitter.
Another user posted, ‘Did I miss it the national anthem at the sugar bowl, or did woke @espn not show it?’
‘It’s a shame they didn’t share the national anthem. It was beautiful. I guess but no one got to see it because the Disney ESPN conglomerate decided not to show it,’ read another user’s post.
‘Yo @espn why the f**k are you not covering this anthem???,’ wondered another user.
Patrick Magee, a sports editor at the New Orleans Times-Picayune posted, ‘ESPN not showing the national anthem before the Sugar Bowl is a bit surprising.’
Another college football fan said, ‘@espn No national anthem on the Sugar Bowl is just beyond awful. Absolutely disgusting.’
While the network didn’t show the anthem or the moment of silence live as it happened, they did show images of fans bowing their heads and an American flag unfurled at midfield.
College football fans slammed the network for its failure to show the touching moments
A clip of this montage of images was also posted to ESPN’s social media accounts.
ESPN also showed a message from President Joe Biden, which addressed the terror attack and the game taking place.
‘Today all of America stands with the people of New Orleans,’ the President said. ‘We pray for those killed and injured in yesterday’s attack and we’re grateful to the brave first responders who raced to save lives.’
Biden continued: ‘I’m glad the game is back on for today, but I’m not surprised because the spirit of New Orleans can never be kept down. That’s also true for the spirit of America.
‘We just have to remember who we are: we’re the United States of America, there’s nothing, nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together. God bless New Orleans, and God protect our troops.’
The game kicked off as planned for 4:00pm ET as the two teams fought for a chance to advance to the CFP semifinals.