Journalist Graham Bensinger has found himself mired in controversy after an episode with Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald, where the latter made remarks about Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton.
Bensinger, who has interviewed famous sports personalities including Mike Tyson, was speaking to Macdonald on his show In Depth with Graham Bensinger, when the remarks were made.
Macdonald had revealed that Payton threatened to accuse the Seahawks of cheating. However, the head coach later clarified that he did not know the clip would be made public. On September 23, Macdonald said "Honestly, I gotta be better in that moment for understanding, look, I'm responsible for what I say, really no matter the circumstance, whether you're mic'd up, whether you're not, whether you have some type of understanding," adding, “So I fell short in that moment. So it stings for me, frankly, but it's something I'm definitely gonna learn from,” as per The Athletic.
Now, the controversy has led to many slamming Bensinger online, including his most recent Instagram post, where he speaks of an upcoming episode of the show.
Bensinger's Insta post slammed amid Mike Macdonald row
{{/usCountry}}Now, the controversy has led to many slamming Bensinger online, including his most recent Instagram post, where he speaks of an upcoming episode of the show.
Bensinger's Insta post slammed amid Mike Macdonald row
{{/usCountry}}On Instagram, Bensinger had shared “South Africa, Madagascar & NYC for an upcoming episode profiling David Yarrow. That’s a wrap!”. The post was made a week back.
One person sarcastically remarked “Did you try to trick him too?,” referring to the Mike Macdonald fiasco.
Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio said that future interviewees could be wary after this situation. “The situation is another reminder that everything is potentially on the record, absent a clear agreement between the parties that it's not. And while Bensinger's people didn't breach any journalistic rules by using it, the fact that it was posted could make future subjects more leery about agreeing to be interviewed,” he said.
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Others also criticized Bensinger, with one writing “Yeah so here’s the thing. Mike took ownership of the situation and you’ve passed the buck.”
What did Mike Macdonald say?
In the viral clip, Macdonald had said “So, he called John (Schneider) and he basically like threatened to come out publicly and do it like a whole Patriot Spygate type of thing… We didn't cheat.”
“… He thought it was a Michigan thing or we had a plant and the whole thing, and so we had to like counter with him and say like, 'Hey look, if you come out of this like we're gonna sue you because it's not true',” he had added, speaking of Payton.
Bensinger issues apology
Amid the ongoing row, Bensinger issued an apology.
“Due to ongoing media requests for comment, I want to clarify the timeline surrounding a portion of our recent interview with Mike Macdonald that has received attention this week. The complete Mike Macdonald interview, including the conversation now at issue, was provided to Seahawks PR last Wednesday, September 16-five days before it was published on YouTube Monday. During that time, no concern was raised about the exchange, and we were never asked to remove it. For the last couple of years, our typical practice with long- form interview releases has been to include some of the pre-interview conversation,” he wrote.
“Coach Macdonald reached out to me directly yesterday morning expressing concern. I immediately told him we would remove that portion, and we did. Unfortunately, it had already been clipped from our interview by online outlets and circulated elsewhere. I told Coach that, in hindsight, I regretted allowing that exchange to be included and that it was my error in judgment. I have tremendous respect for Coach. We spent significant time together in Seattle, and I came away impressed not only by what he has accomplished in such a short period of time, but by the person he is. The last thing I want is for one exchange to overshadow that story. I also have great respect for Sean Payton, whom I had the opportunity to profile previously,” the journalist added.