KATIE TAYLOR is one of Ireland’s most-loved sports stars, so if someone mistakenly refers to her as British, don’t expect the Irish to let it go unnoticed.
That’s what happened when American sports broadcasters ESPN wrote ‘Britain’s Katie Taylor to make pro debut on Nov 26’ on their boxing Twitter account, which has 195,000 followers, yesterday.
Taylor has indeed signed a professional boxing contract with Matchroom Boxing, and the article itself correctly referred to her as an ‘Irishwoman’, but it appears the social media team were misinformed.
After an immediate backlash from followers, ESPN deleted the incorrect post, but that won’t brush the criticism under the carpet.
@ESPNBoxing Katie Taylor is Irish. ????please change that Headline and go look at a Map . https://t.co/JupqdZzHiH
— Paul1878 (@MoranPaul52) October 27, 2016
@ESPNBoxing @espn Ireland's Katie Taylor!!! Maybe you should research before you write and take a geography class
— Sean O' Shea (@SeaniieOShea) October 27, 2016
@ESPNBoxing @Irishboxingcom @espn @KatieTaylor @danrafaelespn sort these guys out on the heritage of the legend that is Katie Taylor
— Alan Molloy (@AlanMolloy) October 27, 2016
@ESPNBoxing Ireland's Katie Taylor.
— Darragh Hayes (@mci_dar) October 27, 2016
@ESPNBoxing katie is IRISH you idiots
— batman (@DoireSean1888) October 27, 2016
@ESPNBoxing @espn IRELANDS not BRITAIN
— dylan mooney (@BohsnutDylan) October 28, 2016
@ESPNBoxing @espn Seriously? Loads of people have told you already. She's IRISH...IRISH. Ireland is not England or Britain. Get an atlas ?
— Sinéad (@Boodlesy) October 27, 2016
The BBC seem to have learned their lesson after several mishaps over the identity of Irish sports stars recently, perhaps ESPN’s social media team will take a note of this one.
