Fans Perplexed By Twin Towers Photo In Knicks-Heat Game 1 Coverage

Viewers of Sunday's NBA Playoff matchup between the New York Knicks and Miami Heat were perplexed to see broadcaster ABC use stock footage of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center during the lead-in to a commercial break.

The apparent gaffe occurred during halftime of the network's coverage of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. During an advertising plug leading into a commercial break, an image of the Statue of Liberty with the Manhattan skyline in the background, one of several New York City landmarks shown throughout Sunday's commercial bumpers featured the Twin Towers.

Pay attention at the end. How old is this footage ABC is using?! Wtf is goin on here?! pic.twitter.com/254YhBzE1R
— Khaled (@khaled74) April 30, 2023

Considering the Towers' destruction in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which killed over 3,000 Americans, many found the use of such footage insensitive. Others felt that the careless error was indicative of the state of ABC/ESPN's sports coverage after parent company Disney's plan to cut 7,000 jobs.

Rolling with 22 year old photos of the Twin Towers at halftime. Seriously @espn @ABC ? Did you fire every editing room person? #espn #nba #nyc https://t.co/ER9wDZh1He
— Jeff Adell (@seeking6) April 30, 2023

Apparently, during the ESPN layoffs this week, they got rid of the person responsible for not showing 22-year-old videos.

How else can they explain using footage of NYC during Heat/Knicks that shows the Twin Towers still standing? https://t.co/1mUzVdcWMo
— OutKick (@Outkick) April 30, 2023

Aye @ESPNNBA @ABCNetwork who do you have editing bump in/out footage…someone isn’t paying attention to details about #NewYorkCity skyline… https://t.co/xIIAXOtrkM
— Brandon Bryant (@brandonbryanttv) April 30, 2023

Great job @ABC @espn https://t.co/sC3GodUxl1
— Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D. (@neoavatara) April 30, 2023

How can you do this? How? https://t.co/5Zl64hgDG0
— Will Chiarucci (@WillChiarucci) April 30, 2023

In a statement obtained by Awful Announcing, ESPN's senior director of communications Ben Cafardo acknowledged the error, declaring "We mistakenly used an old stock image and we apologize."

This, unfortunately, isn't the first time that New York City's role in the tragic events of Sept. 11 has caused controversy in a professional sports broadcast's graphics package: last MLB season, a Fox Sports bumper superimposed the logos of the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox over the reflecting pools commemorating where the Towers once stood at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

The hosting Knicks lost homecourt advantage on Sunday afternoon after dropping a 108-101 decision to the Heat in their first Eastern Conference semifinal series game since 2013. They'll have a chance to even the series on Tuesday night at MSG before the series shifts to Miami (7:30 p.m. ET, TNT). Disney networks are currently slated to air Games 3 (ABC) and 6 (ESPN) on May 6 and 12 with the other five games on TNT.

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

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