Gawker Media site Deadspin continues to set the standard for honest, forthright apologies. Take this one, appended to a bogus story published Wednesday about the 2016 Olympics featuring 3-on-3 basketball:
Update: Nah, this isn’t happening. I wrote a post based on a satire website, which is just about the dumbest way to fuck up. Sorry. Fuck me. Woulda been cool though. Original post below.
The story came from the Betoota Advocate, a satirical website that has successfully trolled the the UK’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Brand New.
Here’s one of the more farfetched paragraphs from the satirical site, highlighted by a Gawker commenter:
Spectators will be given the opportunity to watch the competition in the evenings, from the comfort of their own cars. It is proposed that each game be played in the evenings and the lighting will be complimented by the headlights on spectator vehicles that are to be surrounding the arena.
In October, Deadspin devoted an entire article to explaining how it botched a story accusing Rep. Cory Gardner of lying about his high school football career. Poynter’s Craig Silverman called it the “apology of the year” and praised editor Tommy Craggs for giving “himself and his staff the Deadspin treatment.”
Deadspin in the past has highlighted missteps and inaccuracies in sports media, calling out ESPN for contriving silly stories, and compiling this roundup of cringeworthy coverage from the network in 2013.
Tom Scocca, executive features editor at Gawker media, posted the error to Gawker Media sub-blog The Politburo, likening the mistake to a workplace injury:
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