Billy Ray Bates has long been a household name in the Philippine basketball world. It is no wonder, many Filipinos were disappointed to hear that the player known as the "Black Superman" was wrongly reported to have died in one of the NBA programs.
NBA on TNT has already apologized to Billy Ray Bates, his family and fans after the show hosts of its "Inside the NBA" program wrongly said the former Portland Trail Blazers star and PBA import has already passed away.
Ernie Johnson read the apology.
"We would like to issue a correction and an apology for something that happened last night on Inside the NBA. ... In the course of our discussion, we passed on some bad information that Billy Ray Bates had passed away," said Johnson.
The apology comes on the heels of a recent discussion in the "NBA on TNT" telecast about Cleveland guard Ty Jerome scoring 28 points in his NBA playoff debut in the Cavaliers' 121-100 win over the Miami Heat last 22 April.
By doing so, Jerome became the fourth most prolific off-the-bench player in his playoff debut behind Bates, who had 29 in a 1980 playoff game when he was still with the Portland Trail Blazers, Ben Gordon (30) and Malik Monk (32).
In the course of the discussion, NBA great Charles Barkley said, "I wonder if Billy Ray is still alive." After a long, awkward pause, his co-host Shaquille O’Neal responded that Bates has already passed away.
Fans were quick to correct Shaq on X, formerly Twitter.
"We would like to issue a correction and an apology for something that happened last night on Inside the NBA. ... In the course of our discussion, we passed on some bad information that Billy Ray Bates had passed away.
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 21, 2025
While it was inadvertent, it was also inaccurate and… pic.twitter.com/bUZ5awiBsF
No comments:
Post a Comment