Did ESPN cross the line by pretending to auction off football players? | The Tylt

The ESPN Fantasy Football Marathon was supposed to be 28 straight hours of fun fantasy football related content. Unfortunately, 28 hours means not all of the content is going to be enjoyed by everyone. 

ESPN included a sketch where NFL players being auctioned off in an auction-style fantasy draft but in real life. The images hit very close to home for a lot of viewers and reopened deep wounds of Black slaves being auctioned off in similar fashion during the slave trade. The ensuing Twitter firestorm was more memorable than the 28 hours of fantasy content.

To their credit, ESPN quickly released an apology.

Who thought it was okay to auction off black people, especially in the current racial climate? There is no excuse for ESPN to visually represent an auction with a league that is 70 percent black. It doesn't matter that white players like Tom Brady were also auctioned off. No one should be subjected to feeling like a piece of meat to be used for someone's leisure. 

It was very tasteless to drum up memories of slaves getting auctioned off when slavery was legal in this country. ESPN needs to remember the lessons of this situation so it doesn't make the same mistake again.

ESPN's auction sketch wasn't the best look, but this is EXACTLY what fantasy auction drafts are like. A player is put on the block, and people bid on them. The only reason people are upset is because they don't know fantasy sports. People don't think of the players like slaves. Fantasy players look it as a buying the services of a skilled player who can help their team. Nothing more should be read into that.

The NFL is 70 percent black. Black players were going to be included in the sketch, just like Tom Brady and other white players were. This was just fantasy football, and nothing else.