LA Times columnist Ben Bolch has apologized for his op-ed that called the LSU women’s basketball team “dirty rookies” – comments that were labeled “sexist” by Tigers coach Kim Mulkey
In a preview of LSU’s Sweet 16 matchup against UCLA (which Bolch regularly covers), he called the game a matchup between “good and evil,” while calling LSU “villains” and calling UCLA “milk and cookies.”
On Monday — just before the Tigers’ Elite 8 game against Iowa — Bolch said he “missed the mark terribly and “failed miserably in my choice of words.”
It took me two days to write this apology because I wanted to be as thoughtful as possible in my response to the situation I created,” Bolch wrote. “These are words that no one asked me to write on my paper, but they need to be expressed so that I can admit my mistake.
‘Words are important. As a journalist, no one should know this better than me. Yet I failed miserably in my choice of words. In my column previewing the LSU-UCLA women’s basketball game, I tried to be clever in my phrasing of one team’s stance, using alliteration without understanding the deeply offensive connotation or associations.
KIm Mulkey also called the LA Times column sexist after the team’s win over UCLA
‘I also used metaphors that were inappropriate. Our society has faced so many layers of misogyny, racism and negativity that I now understand why the words I used were wrong. I didn’t mean to be offensive, but I now understand that I missed the point terribly.
“My sincere apologies to the LSU and UCLA basketball teams and to our readers. UCLA, a school I have mentored for almost a decade, champions diversity and is known as a leader in inclusivity. However, I did not maintain that standard in what I wrote and I will do much better. I’m so sorry.’
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