ESPN receives backlash for fantasy auction of black players to white bidders

During ESPN’s 28-hour fantasy marathon, which began Monday, the network aired a questionable skit involving a live auction draft, where in one scene black players were sold to bidders -- which were comprised mostly of white males.
The skit garnered a lot of criticism with people pointing out, the skit appeared eerily similar to what one would have see during a slave auction.
🤔 pic.twitter.com/zvezCItems— Jᴀsᴏɴ (@rjasonscales) August 14, 2017Soooooo ESPN just did an "auction" sketch
Dear @ESPN,
— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) August 15, 2017
Apologize now for doing a sketch where you auctioned a Black man off to the highest bidder. pic.twitter.com/D8SC1cjhBU
Instead of a typical snake draft, where people will select a player by rounds, an auction draft is based on a budget and bids are taken for certain players. In the skit, the predominantly white audience bids for talented black football players. Many called the scene inappropriate, particularly given the recent race-fueled events in Charlottesville, Va.
They hosted a slave auction on ESPN and mascaraed it as a NFL draft
— David (@DWash300) August 15, 2017
ESPN: "Let's do a Fantasy Football auction segment with all white people bidding on a black player like a slave"
— Javey Pratt (@Javey_Pratt) August 15, 2017
Me: pic.twitter.com/4lkSaFNNvg
So this is what @espn did well let me just say, this is racist and trash.#NoConfederate https://t.co/ZD2G2U7rzp
— CarolynH. (@CarrieCnh12) August 15, 2017
Espn aired a lived auction draft. I've been playing fantasy football over a decade and that still looked terrible cmon now
— Max Julien (@OG_triple_OGe) August 15, 2017
In a statement to USA TODAY, ESPN apologized for the skit.
“Auction drafts are a common part of fantasy football, and ESPN’s segments replicated an auction draft with a diverse slate of top professional football players. Without that context, we understand the optics could be portrayed as offensive, and we apologize,” the network statement read.
