The Los Angeles Times updated a recent op-ed about the LSU Tigers women’s basketball team, claiming it didn’t meet “editorial standards.”
In the original version of his piece, titled, “UCLA-LSU is America’s sweethearts vs. its basketball villains,” Ben Bolch wrote, “This isn’t just a basketball game, it’s a reckoning. Picking sides goes well beyond school allegiance.”
“Do you prefer America’s sweethearts or its dirty debutantes?” he asked. “Milk and cookies or Louisiana hot sauce?”
“[I don’t care] who one’s favorite #ncaa #wbb team is. There is absolutely NO REASON for #LSU to be DISRESPECTED by the [LA Times],” fumed The Free Dome Podcast. “This article should’ve never been written this way to begin with. To call a team DIRTY DEBUTANTES is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE!”
Idc who one’s favorite #ncaa #wbb team is. There is absolutely NO REASON for #LSU to be DISRESPECTED by the @latimes . This article should’ve never been written this way to begin with. To call a team DIRTY DEBUTANTES is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE! pic.twitter.com/ewiLqD4jZl
— TheFreeDomePodcast (@FreeDomePodcast) March 31, 2024
By roughly 9:55 pm Pacific Time, the “dirty debutantes” and “milk and cookies” lines were gone.
An Editor’s Note appeared, stating: “The original version of this commentary did not meet Times editorial standards. It has been edited to remove language that was inappropriate and offensive. We apologize to the LSU basketball program and to our readers.”
But the damage had been done.
“I think there’s a lot of situations that play into it,” said Tigers transfer guard Hailey van Lith. “But I think we do, you know, have a lot of black women on this team. We do have a lot of people that are from different areas. And, unfortunately, that bias does exist still today, and a lot of the people that are making those comments are being racist towards my teammates.”
“I have a duty to my teammates to have their back,” she said. “Some of the words that were used in that article were very sad and upsetting.”
“Calling us the dirty debutantes, that has nothing to do with sports,”she said. “That’s not motivating.”
Hailey van Lith talks about the ‘racist’ remarks originally written in the LA Times preview of the UCLA v. LSU matchup
“Some of the words in that article were very sad and upsetting… calling us basically the ‘dirty debutantes’ that has nothing to do with sports” pic.twitter.com/SxDgHbrspC
— Michael Merrick (@MichaelMerrick_) March 31, 2024
LSU coach Kim Mulkey, fresh off a win against UCLA, did not hold back.
“It was good versus evil in that game today. Evil? Called us dirty debutants?” Mulkey fumed. “Take your phone out right now and Google ‘dirty debutantes’ and tell me what it says.”
“It was even sexist for this reporter to say UCLA was milk and cookies,” she stated.
Here’s everything @LSUwbkb @KimMulkey had to say Sunday about The Los Angeles Times, the apology from the UCLA head coach for retweeting the story and the removal of “dirty debutantes” from the article. #LSU pic.twitter.com/Txbn9rZj7I
— Jacques Doucet (@JacquesDoucet) March 31, 2024
Los Angeles conservative radio host Larry Elder blasted The Times over the piece.
“FROM THE ‘NEWS’ PAPER THAT CALLED ME ‘THE BLACK FACE OF WHITE SUPREMACY,'” he wrote on X.
FROM THE “NEWS” PAPER THAT CALLED ME “THE BLACK FACE OF WHITE SUPREMACY”…
LA Times updates controversial op-ed that called LSU’s women’s basketball team ‘dirty debutantes’… after cries of sexism and the paper deeming the phrase didn’t meet ‘editorial standards’…
— Larry Elder (@larryelder) April 1, 2024
Wrote one X user of The Los Angeles Times, “I didn’t know they had any editorial standards.”
I didn’t know they had any editorial standards.
— Rod Lunceford (@lunceford_rod) April 1, 2024
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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