Who doesn’t love conflicting reports?
Oh, you don’t? Well, you might want to steer clear of a storm that’s been brewing on Twitter since the weekend over whether ESPN reacted appropriately in its reporting of the New York Daily News story about Peyton Manning and an alleged sexual assault that occurred while the quarterback was at the University of Tennessee.
The official Twitter account of WEEI’s “Dennis and Callahan” — run by show producer Chris Curtis, according to the account’s bio — went on the offensive Sunday over ESPN’s apparent lack of coverage.
I was just told by a current ESPN anchor that all ESPN employees were told not to report or discuss the Daily News story on Peyton Manning.
— Mut at Night (@MutAtNightWEEI) February 14, 2016
Manning, of course, was linked to HGH allegations in a recent report, and some have been critical of the coverage provided by certain national media outlets — like ESPN — that seemingly swept the issue under the rug without devoting much time to it. The rumor put forth Sunday by the “Dennis and Callahan” Twitter account in the wake of the Daily News story added to such complaints.
ESPN since has reported on the Manning-Daily News story, so perhaps everyone was (and is) up in arms over nothing. But the rumor that ESPN anchors initially were told not to report on the Manning story was enough for others to seek answers and ultimately offer conflicting reports.
Multiple ESPN sources confirm this report is completely false & that ESPNers were told no such thing. https://t.co/0VPPwmbOpZ
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) February 14, 2016
Y'all need to stop believing Twitter rumors. Seriously. https://t.co/UxHMrurR7t
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) February 15, 2016
The “Dennis and Callahan” account still was firing back as of Monday afternoon.
An ESPN employee said the Peyton story was a "do not report" Saturday. 1st reporting of it came Sunday at 11:19 am. https://t.co/Aa5gTfF3mG
— Mut at Night (@MutAtNightWEEI) February 15, 2016
Fun stuff, right?
Thumbnail photo via Ron Chenoy/USA TODAY Sports Images
