John Anderson, an anchor for ESPN’s SportsCenter, issued an apology to Vegas Golden Knight defenceman Zach Whitecloud for insensitive comments about the players last name.
While narrating Whitecloud’s Monday night goal against the Oilers the anchor would say “What kind of name is Whitecloud? A great name if you’re a toilet paper.” An attempt at humor by the anchor that didn’t go over well with Zach or some members of the viewing audience.
Whitecloud, born in Brandon, MB is a member of the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, the first to play in the NHL.
John Anderson released a statement saying:
“This is totally on me and I sincerely apologize to Zach, the Golden Knights, their fans and everyone else for what I said.” “It’s my job to be prepared and know the backgrounds of the players and I blew it.”
Whitecloud would tell the media Tuesday morning in Edmonton that he had in fact spoke with John Anderson:
“I think it was an attempt at humor that came out as being obviously insensitive, and he acknowledges that.” “He understands that it was wrong to say. I wanted to make sure he knew that I accepted his apology. People make mistakes, and this is a scenario where not just John but everyone can learn from and move forward in a positive direction and try to be better.”
The visibly emotional player would go on to say:
“I’m proud of my culture, I’m proud of where I come from and where I was raised, who I was raised by. I carry my grandfather’s last name, and nothing makes me more proud than to be able to do that. In our culture, we were raised to be the first ones to reach out and offer help, so that’s why I reached out to John this morning.”
It is very telling of the Vegas defenceman that he was the one to reach out to the SportCenter anchor and not the other way around, as well as how bland Anderson’s statement read. One could only hope the statement was issued before the defenceman had to reach out.
Game 4 in the series is Wednesday night, let’s hope Anderson isn’t on duty for the highlights or has a changed attitude following the incident.
– Everett
