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Sports Commentator Apologizes For Insensitive Tweet Following Damar Hamlin's Cardiac Arrest
This week's Monday Night Football came to an abrupt halt when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field during the team's game against Cincinnati Bengals after taking a hit in the first quarter. The high-stakes game was immediately suspended before NFL officials announced the game would be officially postponed.
Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest and is still in critical condition. He received 9 minutes of CPR on the field and was then transported to a hospital.
During those 9 minutes, the Twitterverse was flooded with messages rallying around Hamlin, many stating his well being is far more important than any game.
\u201cThe game is not important.\n\nDamar Hamlin\u2019s life is important. \n\nPlease be ok. Please. \n\n\ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udffc\u201d— JJ Watt (@JJ Watt) 1672712483
\u201cThe thoughts and prayers of all of Bills Mafia are supporting you, Damar. \ud83d\ude4f\u201d— Buffalo Bills (@Buffalo Bills) 1672712171
\u201c@BuffaloBills @HamlinIsland \ud83d\ude4f\u201d— Buffalo Bills (@Buffalo Bills) 1672711192
However, a tweet by Fox Sports commentator Skip Bayless did not send the same message.
During those minutes of the unknown following Hamlin's collapse, Bayless tweeted:
"No doubt the NFL is considering postponing the rest of this game—but how?"
"This late in the season, a game of this magnitude is crucial to the regular-season outcome...which suddenly seems so irrelevant."
\u201cNo doubt the NFL is considering postponing the rest of this game - but how? This late in the season, a game of this magnitude is crucial to the regular-season outcome ... which suddenly seems so irrelevant.\u201d— Skip Bayless (@Skip Bayless) 1672713016
The backlash was swift.
Come on Skip, this is life vs. a game. I’m sorry but this is your worst take ever.
— Dusty Baker (@DustyBakerTV) January 3, 2023
This is the most inconsiderate thing you could have said. We are human beings not just numbers. You’ve obviously never stepped foot in a locker room or been apart of a family like this. We are a band of brothers! Get over yourself man… Praying hard for Damar and his family!
— Logan Cooke (@LoganCooke2) January 3, 2023
In an attempt to clarify the intent of his original message, Bayless followed up:
"Nothing is more important than that young man's health. That was the point of my last tweet."
"I'm sorry if that was misunderstood but his health is all that matters."
"Again, everything else is irrelevant. I prayed for him & will continue to."
\u201cNothing is more important than that young man's health. That was the point of my last tweet. I'm sorry if that was misunderstood but his health is all that matters. Again, everything else is irrelevant. I prayed for him & will continue to.\u201d— Skip Bayless (@Skip Bayless) 1672716148
Bayless also made a statement Tuesday morning on Undisputed, noticeably sans co-host Shannon Sharpe.
Before starting the show, Bayless said it would proceed as usual but everyone is very much "wrecked" by the situation.
"Allow me to say upfront that I apologize for what we're going to set out to do here today if it offends anyone because we're going to try to do the show pretty much as we usually do the show."
"But I'll admit up front that I'm still shook up by what happened last night to Damar Hamlin. In fact, I'm still wrecked."
"In fact, I'm not sure I'm capable of doing this show today."
He continued:
"But after barely sleeping on it, I decided to give it a try."
"Maybe I'll fail. Maybe we will fail, but we're going to try."
"We wrestled through much of the night whether to even do a show today because it felt like, in our minds, we almost can't win with this."
"Because the last thing we want to try to do is come off as insensitive to what this young man is going through in a life or death situation."
"The last thing we want to do is offend anyone by trying to do what we always do, which is talk about sports."
You can watch his on-air apology below.
\u201cSkip Bayless is without Shannon Sharpe for Undisputed today.\n\nHe attempted to apologize for the discussion surrounding Damar Hamlin last night and on today\u2019s show.\u201d— Complex Sports (@Complex Sports) 1672759075
Some on Twitter defended Bayless, saying they understood what he was trying to say in his original tweet and also thanking him for acknowledging his mistake.
Yeah I read the tweet and People stopped reading at a certain point because he did say how everything seemed irrelevant compared to what was going on as to whether or not continue the because of playoff implications.
— Justin Riley (@nitsujmax) January 3, 2023
He’s taking accountability and people still complaining. It’s crazy how you can cancel someone or ruin their career over a damn tweet. I don’t think he meant to be disrespectful it was just received the wrong way. Nobody is perfect bruh at least he took accountability.
— DréNyce804 (@DreNyce804) January 3, 2023
What does he need to apologize for? He said “the NFL has to find a way to get this game in, but how are they going to do it when football now seems irrelevant”. That’s capturing everything about this. It’s important in one way but the injury has wiped that away.
— Salty Sarsparilla (@SaltySarsparill) January 3, 2023
I hate skip as much as the next guy, but the dude literally said the game was irrelevant in light of what happened. Maybe he could’ve worded it all more clearly, but this feels like an unnecessary dog pile that’s only distracting people from how terrible the whole situation is.
— Charlie (@ChogBogg) January 4, 2023
Many however, weren't as accepting of his apology.
There's NO #Bayless apology in there anywhere. Just him talking about how hard it is for HIM to do a show and how HE couldn't sleep last night.
— Casey Duffy (@SoberSamaritan) January 3, 2023
Did he even say “sorry”?
— Kevin McCallister (@FredVsDerf) January 3, 2023
Where’s the apology? He made it about himself and how he’s (not really) feeling again. Fire this man @FOXSports and I never want to see him or his name as part of the sports discourse ever again
— DevOnSports (@DevOnSports) January 3, 2023
Surprisingly, Skip Bayless found a way to make Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest all about Skip Bayless. Gross.
— Bert (@Citizen05298) January 4, 2023
This was not an apology. It was a poor me rant that turned into a disclaimer that he is going to say what he wants and if it offends someone he doesn’t care
— Terry Alexander (@patriots87fan) January 4, 2023
Bayless continued by encouraging viewers to tweet their "emotions" about Hamlin's injury on Monday night and promised to read them throughout the "difficult morning."
Hamlin remains in critical condition at a Cincinnati hospital.