ESPN Radio Host Apologizes for Asking Fans if Jonathan Isaac’s Knee Injury is ‘Funny’ After NBA Player Chose Not to Kneel During National Anthem Because of His Christian Beliefs
ESPN Radio host Dan Le Batard (inset), and Jonathan Isaac (pictured standing)
ESPN Radio host Dan Le Batard has apologized for a Twitter poll asking if the knee injury suffered Sunday by Christian NBA player Jonathan Isaac, who cited the Gospel last week for his unwillingness to kneel or wear a Black Lives Matter shirt, was “funny”.
Isaac, a forward for the Orlando Magic, was the only player not to kneel for the national anthem during a game last week. On Friday, he referenced his faith and personal beliefs to answer criticism for not kneeling during the anthem.
But on Sunday night during a game against Sacramento Kings, Isaac tore his anterior cruciate ligament on a drive to the basket.
Jonathan Isaac was taken off the court in a wheelchair following an apparent knee injury. pic.twitter.com/z4D9zd4baH
Le Batard, who hosts the nationally syndicated “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz,” and his co-hosts posted a poll on the social media platform Monday asking: “Is it funny the guy who refused to kneel immediately blew out his knee?” The poll was the latest in the series of unusual poll questions posed by the show.
The poll drew the ire of some online who found the poll to be insensitive.
On Monday, Le Batard apologized through Twitter and removed the poll. He also suggested that some may have taken the poll out of context.
According to Le Batard, the injury was the focus of on-air discussion on the national radio show.
Although he said during that discussion that he did not find the injury funny, the majority of those who responded to the poll found the injury funny.
“We apologize for this poll question,” Le Batard wrote in a tweet. “I said on the front and back end of the on-air conversation that I didn’t think it was funny. Regardless of the context, we missed the mark. We took the tweet down when we realized our mistake in how we posed the question to the audience. -Dan.”
We apologize for this poll question. I said on the front and back end of the on-air conversation that I didn’t think it was funny. Regardless of the context, we missed the mark. We took the tweet down when we realized our mistake in how we posed the question to the audience. -Dan pic.twitter.com/iL5HtFm6gs
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) August 3, 2020
Isaac’s injury has been compared to that of Derrick Rose, whose MVP-level career was hindered from a torn ACL.
