ESPN Got Duped By a Fake Adam Schefter Twitter Account
Fake Adam Schefter Twitter accounts are incredibly lame and usually easy to spot, but every year someone gets caught aggregating one. On Monday something we've never seen before happened, as Schefter's own company was duped by a fake account. Yes, ESPN ran with a report produced by a fake Schefter account that claimed the Miami Dolphins had fired offensive coordinator Chan Gailey. Gailey has not been fired.
A writer's own outlet getting duped by one of his fake accounts? That's definitely a new one.
ESPN ran with a report from @TuaNeedsHelp (masquerading as Schefter) that said, "Dolphins have parted ways with offensive coordinator Chan Gailey, per source." The network created an article on its website and mentioned it on an episode of SportsCenter. It turns out, obviously, that the story wasn't true and Gailey hasn't been fired.
Check out some of the madness:
We've seen it all. ESPN got duped by a fake Adam Schefter account.
— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) January 4, 2021
Chan Gailey has not been fired. pic.twitter.com/h5DTGyjmTK
The Miami Herald's Barry Jackson painted the most complete picture of the situation:
ESPN says that Chan Gailey has not been fired and the error has been corrected and the story has been removed. ESPN said it was in no way's Schefter's fault. Schefter, in fact, hasn't reported anything on Gailey.
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) January 4, 2021
...This appears to be result of someone at ESPN desk falling for a fake Schefter tweet and crafting a story out of it, without Schefter having any knowledge of it... Dolphins not commenting because, well, nobody on Earth is now reporting that Gailey has been fired.
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) January 4, 2021
ESPN quickly issued a retraction saying the following:
"ESPN published an incorrect story on Monday involving Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey. The Story has been removed from ESPN.com and replaced with this correction. The story was also mentioned on the 1 p.m. ET edition of Sports Center. No ESPN reporters reported on Gailey or the Dolphins, or were involved in the error, which was made internally. "
That's pretty embarrassing for everyone involved.