Newsreader Reeta Chakrabarti admits the mistake at the end of the News At Ten bulletin, while editor of BBC News at Six and Ten Paul Royall issues an apology for the human error on Twitter.
- January 28, 2020
AceShowbiz - BBC officials have apologised after mistakenly airing footage of basketball star LeBron James during a segment on the death of fellow National Basketball Association (NBA) player Kobe Bryant.
The 41-year-old and his daughter, Gianna, 13, were travelling to one of her basketball games in his private helicopter when it crashed in Calabasas on Sunday, January 26 morning. Both were among a reported nine people who lost their lives.
However, during coverage of the tragic incident, BBC's News At Ten programme aired footage of James beating Bryant's career points tally, and failed to explain why viewers were seeing James on screen rather than Bryant.
Viewers pointed out the error online, criticising the BBC for confusing the two prominent black basketball stars.
At the end of the bulletin, newsreader Reeta Chakrabarti apologised for the earlier on-screen error saying: "In our coverage of the death of Kobe Bryant, in one section of the report, we mistakenly showed pictures of another basketball player, LeBron James."
"We do apologise for the error," she added.
Paul Royall, editor of BBC News at Six and Ten, also posted an apology on Twitter, saying the programme "mistakenly used pictures of LeBron James in one section of the report".
He added: "We apologise for this human error which fell below our usual standards on the programme."
Numerous stars have taken to social media to share tributes to the victims of the crash, with the Recording Academy's interim chief Harvey Mason, Jr. holding a "moment of silence" as he opened the 2020 Grammy Awards on Sunday.
