Jay Glazer addresses backlash over hyping up coronavirus story
Jay Glazer faced a lot of negative backlash this week for the way he shared the news of Los Angeles Rams center testing positive for the coronavirus, and the reporter later tried to explain what happened.
Glazer has broken a number of huge NFL stories over the years, so fans were understandably excited when he tweeted earlier in the week about a big story he was sitting on. Because of all the hype his teaser created, Glazer decided to specify that the news he was going to share had nothing to do with a trade or transaction.
The news I have tonight is not transactional news, not a player getting traded or signed. Woke up to seeing y’all going ape-you-know-what guessing what it is. It’s not what you think. Fox Football Now tonight 11 ET/ 8 PT after race
— Jay Glazer (@JayGlazer) April 15, 2020
That didn’t sit well with fans. Many people felt it was inappropriate for Glazer to hype up a story about a player testing positive for COVID-19. In an appearance on the “Green Light Pod” with Chris Long, Glazer tried to justify his approach.
#GreenLightPod with @JayGlazer (27 min mark)
-How he got ratio’d
-The great work being done with MVP
-Aldon Smith
-Draft
-Plus my cohost @macongunter and I discuss our favorite #34s https://t.co/wpiSwztMKW pic.twitter.com/GGkZhKwXAQ— Chris Long (@JOEL9ONE) April 16, 2020
“(People) are joking and I’m trying to be like, no guys, there’s something serious. I have legit breaking news tomorrow night, but it’s serious,” Glazer explained. “They then pulled (that piece) out and just say, ‘I have big breaking news tomorrow night, it’s serious.’ So when you put that out alone, it’s like, ‘Hey, hey look at me I’ve got this (big story),’ but that’s not how it was.”
Glazer’s point seems to be that people interpreted his clarification as a teaser for big news, but the reason all the speculation erupted in the first place was because he teased the story. His explanation didn’t really cover why he chose to hype up a story about a player contracting an illness, which is what most fans ripped him apart for.
No matter how he wants to frame it, that was a bad look for Glazer. If he had to sit on the news for some reason, he should have done so quietly. Teasing a story about a player contracting an illness just feels wrong.
