Yahoo on Saturday claimed in a headline on its main homepage that Chris Paul is unvaccinated despite no verification of this information.
Paul on Wednesday was reported to be in the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocol. On Saturday, the Phoenix Suns announced that CP3 would miss Sunday’s Game 1 of the Western Conference finals against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Fans are wondering how long Paul might be out and when he will return. His vaccination status could provide some insight regarding the matter. But there has not been any public information shared about his vaccination status.
The only information on the matter has come from a pair of sports media hosts. Connected Arizona sports radio host John Gambadoro who said he believed Paul was vaccinated. Gambadoro reported that Paul tested positive for the virus, which is different from being a close contact to someone who tested positive.
Also on Wednesday, ESPN NBA personality Jalen Rose said that Paul was vaccinated.
Even though there has not been any definitive public information about the matter, that didn’t stop Yahoo from labeling Paul as “unvaccinated” in a headline found on their homepage Saturday.
A friend captured a screenshot of the headline and shared it with Larry Brown Sports:
Either Yahoo is breaking some big news on Chris Paul's vaccination status, or they just opened themselves up to a libel lawsuit and one of their headline writers is about to be fired @Yahoo pic.twitter.com/DxX5yxtsK0
— Larry Brown Sports (@larrybrownsport) June 20, 2021
Oddly, despite the homepage headline tease calling Paul “unvaccinated,” clicking on the link only took one to an article from Yahoo Sports about Paul being ruled out for Game 1. Even the article says of Paul “the 36-year-old has not publicly said if he has been vaccinated yet.”
So what does this mean? Not only was that some bait-and-switch work by Yahoo’s homepage team, but the editor who maintains writes their headlines just opened the company up to a libel lawsuit.
