ESPN Executive Acknowledges Network Made ‘Horrible Error’ in Wake of New Orleans Terror Attack

ESPN is under fire again.

Though, this time, it has very little to do with the network’s on-camera partisanship.

In fact, this controversy was actually all about what the network didn’t show on its cameras.

“The Worldwide Leader in Sports” came under fire shortly after the horrific New Orleans terror attack that killed 14 and injured scores more on New Year’s Day.

No, ESPN didn’t try to make the attack about race, or anything like that.

Instead, ESPN inexplicably opted not to show the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” during the Sugar Bowl, which doubled as the College Football Playoff quarterfinals between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Georgia Bulldogs.

(The Irish won 23-10.)

The Sugar Bowl happened just a day after the New Orleans terror attack (it was actually supposed to occur that same day but was postponed due to security concerns), and many felt that ESPN had a chance to galvanize swathes of Americans when it aired the game — not unlike the iconic singing of the national anthem at sports events in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.

Instead, there was no airing of it — at all.

ESPN’s decision not to show the national anthem, nor the moment of silence for victims, immediately made waves:

ESPN blasted not airing national anthem, moment of silence ahead of Sugar Bowl on day after New Orleans attack https://t.co/kgFGyPBWbK pic.twitter.com/UKS55rl1xU

— New York Post (@nypost) January 3, 2025

So naturally, when ESPN President of Content Burke Magnus appeared on “The Sports Media Podcast” (itself under the umbrella of The New York Post) on Thursday, it would’ve been malpractice for podcast co-hosts Austin Karp and Mollie Cahillane not to ask Magnus about that derided decision.

You can listen to the entire podcast here, but the relevant remarks were clipped by “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show,” which is embedded below:

Listen to @espn President of Content Burke Magnus blame “human error” for skipping the National Anthem at the Sugar Bowl. @ClayTravis pic.twitter.com/SNbGIWKosU

— The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show (@clayandbuck) January 16, 2025

“I know there was a little bit of controversy regarding you guys not covering the anthem in New Orleans, before the game,” Karp began. “Can you speak about that?”

“Yeah, I’m glad you brought that up, actually,” Magnus responded. “Let me just say this: There’s a group of people in Bristol [, Connecticut, home of ESPN’s headquarters] who just made an enormous mistake.

“It was a human error. It happens.

“I don’t want to minimize it by any stretch, but as you noted, like, nothing was normal about that next day, including our programming lineup, where we normally would’ve had ‘College GameDay‘ and that crew leading into the game.

“It wasn’t [‘Gameday’], it was ‘SportsCenter,’ which is done out of Bristol instead of at-site.

“I could make … give you a whole host of reasons why it was not the normal circumstance, but at the end of the day, that was just a horrible error that was made by a group of really well-intentioned people who feel terrible about it.”

Magnus further called allegations that ESPN intentionally didn’t want to honor America or the victims of the terror attack “misplaced.”

“It was just a mistake that we feel terrible about,” Magnus continued. “And by the way, we should be held to account for it. We want to be as good as we can possibly be at all times.”

Magnus ultimately concluded: “It was just not good by any measuring stick and not up to our standards.”

ESPN will be airing the College Football Playoff National Championship game between Notre Dame and the Ohio State Buckeyes on Monday — shortly after President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.

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