This past April, Basketball Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas was a guest on ESPN’s now-canceled Keyshawn, JWill & Max show, and while introducing Thomas, a picture of him scowling flashed on the screen.
Isiah was annoyed and, to his credit, let ESPN know about it.
Isiah Thomas hung up on ESPN because he didn’t like the picture they had of him pic.twitter.com/rxsLPe9GXy
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 12, 2023
“By the way, I’m looking at my picture, come on Keyshawn. Y’all doing that to me?” said Thomas.
The hosts were flustered but Thomas didn’t let them off the hook.
“I saw Max Kellerman’s picture up there. I saw your picture up there. Y’all smiling. Y’all just had my man up there doing the football, he was smiling. This is the picture you put up there of me?”
If you know Isiah Thomas, you know that most of the time he has a big smile. Yet ESPN chose an image of him scowling to show their national television audience.
It’s obvious that they didn’t understand, or failed to understand, that imagery shapes perception, especially when it comes to Black people and Black athletes.
We often see it on the news, where pictures of Black people, even victims, show them scowling, angry or in some tough pose instead of showing them as smiling, happy, family-oriented individuals.
Those images, consciously and subconsciously, craft images in people’s minds and contribute to stereotypes that Black people have long endured and fought.
Yet almost six months after being called out by Isiah, ESPN has failed to learn its lesson.
On Tuesday, the network sent out a post on X of the top three finishers in WNBA MVP race.
The WNBA MVP race this season was CLOSE 😳 pic.twitter.com/9rx8ScxdIf
— ESPN (@espn) September 26, 2023
A smiling Breanna Stewart finished first, followed by Alyssa Thomas and A’Ja Wilson, neither of whom were smiling in the photos ESPN selected for the graphic.
Now, you can debate the MVP results all you want. That’s fine. But what’s not debatable are the images and the immediate feelings they stirred up.
Continue reading over at First and Pen.
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