Newspaper Apologizes for Horrific Headline on Ryan Hilinski and His Brother Who Committed Suicide
How in the world was this headline approved by a sports editor at a major daily newspaper? This is beyond unfathomable.
Following South Carolina's loss to Missouri over the weekend, Columbia-based newspaper The State printed a downright insensitive header apparently referencing freshman quarterback Ryan Hilinski and his family.
How can this happen @thestate pic.twitter.com/fHmgdpHqTO
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) September 22, 2019
For those left wondering why this is such a disgrace, Hilinski's older brother, Tyler, was a quarterback at Washington State when he committed suicide in January of 2018. The news has left college football fans with heartbreak ever since.
With his parents still grieving, they started "Hilinski's Hope," a charity foundation designed to help spread education and awareness of mental health issues.
The State quite obviously dropped the ball here, and after receiving massive amounts of callouts and admonishments on Twitter, they offered up this apology:
Our sincerest apologies to the Hilinski family today for the unfortunate headline in our print edition today. Hilinski’s Hope works to raise awareness about mental health issues, especially for student-athletes.
— The State Newspaper (@thestate) September 22, 2019
This error should have never happened in the first place. While it's right for The State to own up to its mistakes, how could their editorial board have been so idiotic to screw this one up so badly?
One would assume they've lost many subscriptions over this. Good.