ESPN’s Adam Schefter apologizes for ‘insensitive’ tweet on Dwayne Haskins’s death

ESPN personality Adam Schefter has apologized for sending out an “insensitive” tweet following the death of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins. 

“First I wanted to address the death of Dwayne Haskins. And the tweet that I posted this weekend,” Schefter, ESPN’s NFL insider, said on Monday’s episode of “The Adam Schefter Podcast.”

“It was insensitive, it was a mistake, and I can assure you is not my intention. I wish I could have that tweet back,” he added.  

“The focus should have been on Dwayne, who he was as a person, a husband, a friend and so much more. I wanted to apologize to Dwayne’s family, his friends, the players in the National Football League and offer my condolences to everybody close to Dwayne.”

Schefter praised Haskins as a person, describing the quarterback’s great relationships with the organization, his work ethic and his charitable service within the Pittsburgh community. 

“His was a life taken to young, 24 years old, a month shy of his 25th birthday,” Schefter said. “This is the Dwayne Haskins deserves to be remembered. This is the way he was, the way he  lived.”

Schefter, who recently inked a new multiyear deal with the sports media outlet, experienced blowback for his now-deleted tweet about Haskins’s death, which noted the quarterback’s career struggles. Many social media users, including Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, were quick to call out Schefter for the tweet. 

Haskins, a former standout at Ohio State University, died Saturday morning after being struck by a dump truck while trying to cross a major interstate highway in Florida. 

Authorities say they are still investigating the incident, and it remains unclear why Haskins tried to cross the highway.

Haskins’s agent told ESPN that his client was in the Fort Lauderdale area training with his teammates for the upcoming 2022 season. 

Schefter, who has been with the network since 2009, also received criticism from many in the sports journalism community last October after an email leaked from the NFL’s investigation into the Washington Commanders detailed him sending an unpublished story to a then team president Bruce Allen before submitting it to his editors.