NBC News has apologized to Kevin Hart for using his photo in a report about Usain Bolt citing “technical error” behind the glitch.
NBC News has published a report about Usain Bolt testing positive for coronavirus. However, when the report was shared on Facebook, it featured Kevin Hart’s image. Several reacted to the post, including the comedian.
NBC News explains Kevin Hart, Usain Bolt mix-up
Several netizens immediately reacted after seeing Kevin Hart’s picture in a report about Usain Bolt testing positive for coronavirus. The outlet immediately corrected the photo and issued a correction note on the published report.
“CORRECTION (Aug. 25, 2020. 12:46 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article included an incorrect photo on some platforms due to a technical problem. The photo depicted actor Kevin Hart. It has been replaced with a photo of Usain Bolt,” the updated page read.
Hart shared a screenshot of a since-deleted Facebook post showing the mix-up on Instagram and said it was “disrespectful on so many levels” that “all you can do is laugh.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CEUgT-1FD3q/
There’s no way NBC actually used a Kevin Hart pic for usain bolt getting covid … Lmao pic.twitter.com/enaG7IDkUL
— John (@iam_johnw) August 25, 2020
NBC apologized to Hart
Aside from updating the published page with the correction texts, NBC News took to Twitter and apologized to the Jumanji star.
“Very sorry about that @KevinHart4real – bad technical glitch in how photos show up on Facebook,” the message read.
However, the outlet didn’t get into details about how the “bad technical glitch” happens.
Despite the apology, some slammed the news division for the error.
“Yeah, the technical glitch of #Racism,” one wrote.
Meanwhile, another took a dig at the outlet and suggested to assign one person from the staff who can distinguish between Kevin Hart and Usain Bolt. The user implied that the outlet mixed-up the two because they have similar skin color.
Other users defend NBC, agreed there’s a glitch
Meanwhile, several also believed with NBC News that there was a glitch in the system.
Timothy Burke, a former video directory of Deadspin, tweeted on Tuesday that he experienced a similar glitch on Facebook. The same thing happened when he was working for a sports blog, so he defended NBC News.
“ppl are burning NBC today because Facebook pulled a thumb of Kevin Hart for its story on Usain Bolt. That’s not NBC’s fault; Facebook has had a bug for several years that can pull an image from a related story on the page and insist on it being the header. It happened to us!” Burke wrote.
Also, another netizen said he tried posting the same article about 10 times, and the thumbnail kept showing another story. He noticed that NBC News’ article had the correct photo, but when shared, it showed the wrong one.
ppl are burning NBC today because Facebook pulled a thumb of Kevin Hart for its story on Usain Bolt. That's not NBC's fault; Facebook has had a bug for several years that can pull an image from a related story on the page and insist on it being the header. It happened to us! pic.twitter.com/NJ0WuKob82
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) August 25, 2020
Image used courtesy of Tinseltown/Shutterstock