Operating the social media accounts of ESPN has by no means gave the impression of a straightforward job, but it surely seems the Worldwide Chief in Sports activities went to weird lengths to churn out a video supposedly from Damian Lillard’s debut with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Lillard made a robust first impression in Milwaukee on Thursday, scoring 39 factors — a file for a Bucks debut — with eight rebounds, 4 assists and nil turnovers, one month after the three-team blockbuster commerce that despatched him over from the Portland Path Blazers.
There have been many moments throughout and after the sport ripe for posting on social media, together with his game-sealing 3-pointer and his postgame quotes breaking the play down.
ESPN, which was not broadcasting the sport, went in a unique route. The community’s SportsCenter accounts posted a video displaying Lillard saying “Ain’t nothing I would like extra. I advised you after I first got here right here, I mentioned ‘I did not come right here to waste my time,” with the all-caps caption of “DAME DIDN’T COME TO MILWAUKEE TO WASTE HIS TIME.” The identical video and caption have been posted on Instagram.
At first look, the video makes it seem like ESPN one way or the other bought an interview with Lillard, who’s carrying a Bucks jersey and talking into an ESPN microphone, with the Bucks brand on the court docket within the again.
There are, nevertheless, some odd discrepancies within the video. Lillard’s Bucks jersey will not be the jersey the staff wore on Friday. The Fiserv Discussion board doesn’t have an NBA brand at heart court docket just like the one within the video. Nobody makes use of the elongated microphones just like the one ESPN is utilizing.
And, when you look very carefully at that video — particularly on the jersey strap on Lillard’s proper shoulder — you may see some odd interplay with the court docket background.
All of that’s as a result of the video was doctored by ESPN. Or deepfaked, to make use of a harsher time period.
The unique video may be seen right here, through which TNT’s Chris Haynes interviews Lilliard in 2020 in the course of the NBA’s time within the Disney World bubble.
The oddness was pointed out by Portland radio host Danny Marang, and the video quickly began gaining traction in a method ESPN most likely wasn’t envisioning. The community ultimately launched an announcement to Sports Media Watch, claiming the video was an try to mix notable sports activities moments:
“We often look to attach sports activities moments of the previous with up to date imagery and storylines as a part of our social content material. Whereas it was by no means our intention to misrepresent something for followers, we fully acknowledge how this occasion induced confusion.”
The reason sounds harmless sufficient, but it surely does not deal with a few of the main points.
ESPN claims it did not intend to misrepresent something to followers, however they by no means make it clear what followers are taking a look at. Within the absence of context, which this video wants a lot of, the common sports activities followers will simply assume ESPN bought an interview with Lillard.
It is also weird, with potential moral and authorized ramifications, that ESPN is taking a video from a competitor, TNT, and modifying out its brand for it is personal. Yahoo Sports activities has reached out to TNT for remark.
Provided that ESPN is a department of The Walt Disney Firm, employers of maybe essentially the most infamously aggressive mental property attorneys on Earth, you need to surprise if the community would welcome an account utilizing its personal interviews for comparable functions.
Above all, although, that is simply bizarre and may go away followers with a bleak view of what is to return if this actually is one thing ESPN needs to do. There may be a lot content material on the market to mixture, however the largest sports activities accounts on the web taking precise movies and transforming them to go well with their very own branding would blur the strains between what’s actual and faux in a method that many individuals are already involved as a result of growing use of AI and deepfakes.
The backlash to the video, full with group word on X, ought to hopefully at the least given ESPN second ideas if it needs to strive one thing like this once more.