ESPN is being criticized for their handling Carley McCord's passing during coverage of Saturday's Peach Bowl.
ESPN’s Matt Barrie referred the death as a "distraction" from the game for Offensive Coordinator Steve Ensminger, which many viewers felt was flippant. “Certainly our thoughts and prayers with coach and his family, as he gets to do his job and try to put away the distraction of losing his daughter-in-law just hours before kickoff," said Barrie.
"No idea who this dude on the ESPN pregame show is but I think he just said, 'Put away the distraction of losing his daughter-in-law ...' I mean ... what the hell," one viewer wrote on Twitter.
It wasn't the only moment of insensitivity. During a post-game interview with LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, ESPN's Dari Nowkhah broke the news to Burrow himself: "Your offensive coordinator, obviously Steve Ensminger, lost his daughter-in-law in a plane crash shortly before this game-- did you not know?" asked Nowkhah.
"I didn't know that," replied Burrow
"Did you get any sense in talking to coach, in seeing coach at half time?"
"I did not. That's a tough one. I'm going to have to go see coach for that one. He's a great man and great family. I hope the world is praying for him."
Fans weren't happy with this either. "Friggin classless. I understand wanting to get the soundbite, as cheap as it is, that's media today, but the second Joe reacted, bail, wrap it up, and let him go. Don't double down," said one Reddit user.
"Yep, that's some r/trashy bullshit, right there. Why the fuck bring that up, regardless of whether you think the player already knew, when it literally just happened hours earlier. I mean, have some fucking respect for the family, and stop plugging for some 'human interest' reaction clip on live tv," added another user.
McCord was a sideline reporter for Cox Sports Television, ESPN3 and WDSU-TV. She was also the daughter-in-law of LSU offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger.