TSN will no longer live-stream public tweets after the sports network mistakenly aired a malicious and unfounded claim regarding Toronto Maple Leafs forward Joffrey Lupul and captain Dion Phaneuf’s wife, actress Elisha Cuthbert.
TSN broadcasted the tweet (which has since been deleted by poster Anthony Adragna) on Monday during their coverage the NHL’s trade deadline.
Joffrey Lupul was quick to criticize TSN for airing the tweet, using his own Twitter account to call the network “ a poor man’s (sic) TMZ”.
An apology was immediately posted on Twitter, followed the next day by an on-air statement from James Duthie.
“In spite of TSN’s protocol to prevent unfounded and inappropriate tweets from making it to air, a false and inappropriate tweet was allowed to run.
“There was no basis for the false allegation made in this tweet and TSN unreservedly apologizes to Joffrey Lupul, to Dion Phaneuf, and to Elisha Cutherbert,” Duthie’s on-air apology read.
TSN’s on-air apology came shortly after Peter A. Gall, a lawyer representing Phaneuf, Cutherbert and Lupul, released a statement threatening legal action.
“On behalf of our clients Dion Phaneuf, his wife Elisha Cuthbert and Joffrey Lupul, we have sent a letter to TSN demanding that TSN issue a formal apology and pay a significant amount of damages to each of our clients.
“It is bad enough that there are people who spend their time using social media to publish such false and malicious stories, but it is made much worse when a reputable media outlet like TSN gives broad circulation and credibility to these false stories by republishing them as TSN did,” Gall’s statement read.
Adragna has not apologized for the tweet, saying the blame falls squarely on TSN for airing the tweet.
DNP Tweet https://twitter.com/AdragnaA21/status/572613232055214080/photo/1 /Tweet /DNP
DNP Tweet https://twitter.com/AdragnaA21/status/572463023295737856 /Tweet /DNP
This is not TSN’s first scandal regarding an inappropriate tweet making its way onto a live broadcast. Last summer, during coverage of the NHL entry draft, a tweet referring to German draftee Leon Draisatl as “The Final Solution” was live-streamed on-air.