Deadspin made a change to a headline for a story about Greg Hardy after receiving negative backlash online.
Deadspin is back in operation following a hiatus after their staff quit in protest over the new ownership’s “stick to sports” directive. The new staff is trying to keep the edginess that defined the site for the past decade, but they missed the mark with a headline and copy in a story Sunday morning.
The story was about Hardy winning his UFC fight at UFC 249 on Saturday night in Jacksonville. The headline from writer Dan Shapiro said “Greg Hardy Shows He Can Still Beat The Crap Out Of Men, Too”.
If anyone involved was capable of shame this site wouldn’t exist, but this still legitimately shocked me pic.twitter.com/dv33LC67w6
— Tim Marchman (@timmarchman) May 10, 2020
One sentence in the story said that Hardy was able to “fight back like no domestic abuse survivor has ever been able to before.”
Both the headline and sentence were references to Hardy’s past. The former NFL player was arrested in 2014 for allegedly strangling and threatening to kill his girlfriend. The photos from the incident told a disturbing story.
I understand trying to have an edgy tone for a website, but there is nothing funny about the crimes Hardy is alleged to have committed. It really makes you wonder how the site approved such a headline and story.
