Michigan St. coach flips out on ESPN reporter - 'totally unacceptable'
The horrific sexual abuse scandal involving former Michigan State and USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar has cast a dark cloud over the university.
As in the Jerry Sandusky child abuse case at Penn State, the school is struggling to disassociate itself from the heinous acts committed by its employees, even after those responsible and their accomplices have been fired or sent to prison.
Nassar is likely behind bars for the rest of his life, and on Monday, his former boss, Dr. William Strampel, was arrested on charges of criminal sexual conduct.
Strampel, who was fired as head of MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2016, is accused of sexually harassing or assaulting four female medical students at the school. He is also facing charges for what police allegedly found on his university computer: nude photos of MSU students and a video showing Nassar abusing a female patient.
ESPN reporter Dan Murphy wrote about the arrest and tweeted a link to his story Monday.
While there’s no problem with reporting such important news, the image attached to Murphy’s tweet is another matter.
It was a photo of the Spartans’ midfield logo with the No. 3, which was placed there in honor of former MSU punter Mike Sadler. The Academic All-American was killed in a car accident in July 2016.
Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio was furious when he saw the image of Sadler’s tribute linked to the sexual assault case.
Dantonio called out Murphy on Twitter, saying he “stepped OVER the line.”
.@DanMurphyESPN has stepped OVER the line. This is totally unacceptable. M. Sadler is a deceased player whose memory was being recognized with his #3 in the Spartan logo during his life celebration at Spartan Stadium. He was a decorated Academic All-American. #RIP3 #Inexcusable https://t.co/vTeQUQ0hbb
— Mark Dantonio (@DantonioMark) March 27, 2018
“This is totally unacceptable,” Dantonio said, adding the hashtags “RIP3” and “Inexcusable.”
In the face of criticism, Murphy said he didn’t choose to add the photo; rather, he said, it was a stock image automatically added to the tweet.
That's a stock photo that generates automatically when we send out a tweet. It's not included in the story and certainly was not put there intentionally. I apologize if anyone was offended by it. https://t.co/UUKipyzqZu
— Dan Murphy (@DanMurphyESPN) March 27, 2018
I notified our news desk as soon as it was pointed out to me, and it's been changed.
— Dan Murphy (@DanMurphyESPN) March 27, 2018
The image was later replaced with one of Strampel.
Updated story on William Strampel and the wide-reaching investigations into Michigan State's sexual assault issues. https://t.co/fveun6mWNI
— Dan Murphy (@DanMurphyESPN) March 27, 2018
Many on Twitter weren’t satisfied with Murphy’s explanation or his apology.
You “apologize if any one was offended” is a non-apology. Actually be sorry and then do better. Unacceptable.
— Lindsay Willett (@elbow84) March 28, 2018
You guys can’t help yourselves. This is an incredibly important story – and as an alum, I want the truth uncovered. You and your network are completely botching it when you do crap like this. God bless @Sadler_3 and his memory. His family doesn’t deserve this.
— Justin Godley (@godleyju) March 27, 2018
Dan, I guess we just want to know why espn doesn’t use pictures of the department these animals are from or pictures of the actual people.
— DWAGS (@dwags5) March 28, 2018
This is so amazingly absurd, you've reached a new low @espn . An honor student athlete who was a leader and friend to all on campus, placed as the COVER for a story about Larry Nassar. MSU and its students are not associated with Nassar. Have a heart and some empathy.
— Mackenzie (@sexymac17) March 28, 2018
I understand, Dan. Here's the stock photo of you that generates automatically when I reply to your tweets trying to tie Nassar and Strempel to MSU football and basketball. pic.twitter.com/DLbTQxE5t1
— Todd Halbert (@SpartanMavryk) March 28, 2018
ESPN might want to change its automatically generated stock photo system so that this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.
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