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Oops: NBC’s ‘Today’ Airs Footage of the Wrong African-American NFL Quarterback (Here’s the Video)

Jul 17, 2012  •  Post A Comment

NBC’s "Today" show had an embarrassing goof on the air today, running a clip of an NFL quarterback that it thought was the show’s guest, Michael Vick. The Huffington Post reports that the footage was actually of another quarterback, Jerrod Johnson.

Vick was being interviewed by Matt Lauer on the show to promote his book "Finally Free," which talks about Vick’s experiences being convicted of dog-fighting and serving time in prison. When the NBC show cut to footage of what was supposed to be Vick on the field, the footage showed the wrong player.

Both Vick and Johnson are African-American. Vick wears number 7 on his jersey, while Johnson wears number 8. Additionally, Vick is left-handed while Johnson is right-handed.

Some online outlets were also initially confused by the incident, reporting in error that the footage was of quarterback Vince Young.

Video clips of the incident appeared on a variety of online sites, with many of them using NBC News as a source. But by midday today the source clip appeared to be edited to delete the erroneous footage — creating a mix of original and “redacted” clips around the Internet. For now, we have footage that shows the errant clip, courtesy of Guyism.com. Here it is:

3 Comments

  1. Oh, Magoo…I mean…NBC, you’ve done it again!

  2. Can anyone tell what’s an error and what’s willful misinformation at NBC anymore?

  3. Woo hoo! Today/NBC did it again…. going from bad to worse
    Boomerang @ work! W/they have another scapegoat? Or do they
    condone this HUGE error???? Or w/they have more of their
    excuses???? Face it .. Lauer, Bell, Capus, & Lauer’s flighty
    cheerleaders just need to take a hike!!

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