ICE Allegedly Falsely Accused of Attempting Unauthorized Entry into Dodger Stadium Parking Lots by ESPN and Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers have a annoying tendency to create headaches for their PR team, and they did just that yet again on Thursday.
Early afternoon, PST, the Dodgers official account on X posted that federal immigration agents had arrived at Dodger Stadium and requested access to the parking lot area. The Dodgers, displaying their best virtue signaling, claimed they "turned down" entry for ICE agents.
However, it turns out they were telling porkies. But by the time multiple government agencies had debunked the team's false information, the post had already been viewed by tens of millions of readers on X, earning hundreds of thousands of "likes." Not to mention being copied and shared by other sports media outlets, including ESPN - the biggest of them all.
One would think that they'd get stuff right at least some of the time, but how do they keep getting it so terribly wrong?
The official account of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement swiftly responded: "Balderdash! We were never there." The Department of Homeland Security backed up this claim, stating that no ICE agents were at Dodger Stadium. Instead, several vehicles from Customs and Border Protection had had a brief stop in the stadium's parking lot, not for any operation or enforcement action.
ESPN initially ran a report on the Dodgers' actions that failed to mention the debunking by ICE and DHS. Eventually, they updated their story to inform their readers that there had been no ICE agents at Dodger Stadium that day. Still, the faulty post remains up and running.
We reached out to Dodgers Vice President of Communications Jon Weisman to inquire if they had any intention to remove the misleading information from their post, as well as to shed some light on why they had misrepresented the situation. As of publication, Weisman has yet to reply.
This isn't the first time the Dodgers have shown they're poor at communications and public relations. Even with a competent front office and outstanding on-field performance, they've managed to alienate significant segments of their fan base - particularly at their 2023 "Pride Night." During that event, they honored the "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence," an anti-religious group of drag performers who ridicule core tenets of Christianity while dressing like nuns.
The team initially rescinded their invitation after being informed that giving an award to an extremist, anti-religion group would offend people. However, they demonstrated abiding loyalty to the far-left, bowing to pressure from activist groups and sports journalists in Los Angeles and reinstating the award. Star players like Clayton Kershaw and Blake Treinen publicly disagreed, but it wasn't enough to sway the key decision-makers who operate mainly out of cowardice and fear of the political left.
The Dodgers have only recently avoided intense scrutiny following weeks of pressure. Until now, that is. And they managed to shove their foot right back in it again.
It's mind-boggling how they don't check which organization the vehicles in the parking lot belong to before going slap-bang on social media and stirring up trouble. How did they mess this up so badly? We'll probably never find out, since the Dodgers only seem interested in pleasing those who share their political beliefs. It's just another eye-roll-inducing blunder for an organization that manages to excel at so many other things. And yet continues to flunk the easy stuff.
- The Los Angeles Dodgers, known for their PR blunders, faced criticism yet again when their social media account misrepresented the presence of ICE agents at Dodger Stadium.
- Even after government agencies debunked the team's false information, the misleading post continued to circulate, causing confusion among sports-enthusiasts on various platforms, including ESPN.
- In the realm of sports-analysis, the Dodgers' communicative missteps often risk damaging their relationship with fans, as evidenced by their controversial actions during their 2023 "Pride Night" event.
