During Saturday night’s broadcast, Scott Van Pelt spoke about the heartbreaking loss of the 25-year-old Vikings wide receiver.
As he delivered the tribute, the screen displayed a photo of Minnesota Vikings return specialist Myles Price not Rondale Moore.
“ESPN couldn’t even get the right photo for a dead man’s tribute segment. Rondale Moore deserved better than being misidentified on national television hours after his death. Absolutely disgraceful editorial failure from a billion dollar network,” one user posted.
“Do they have another job than to be careful with the information they put out? So why still messing around 🤔,” another wrote.
“World wide leader in sports they say 🤣,” someone else laughed.
“And ESPN wonders why no one watches their programming anymore. Can’t even get a simple picture right,” another fan added.
To be fair, ESPN wasn’t alone in making this mistake. Several online publications, including this very site, used an image of Price for their articles on Moore’s death.
But for a network of ESPN’s stature, the mistake cut deeper. A tribute segment—meant to honor a young life lost too soon became a symbol of carelessness.
News of Moore’s death spread on Saturday night, with authorities revealing that the Vikings wide receiver was found dead in his garage from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 25 years old.
Instead, a billion-dollar network fumbled the most basic task, and a grieving fanbase was left to point out the error.
In an era of instant information, accuracy should be the bare minimum. For ESPN, it wasn’t. And Moore’s memory deserved more.