As part of its celebration of Father's Day, ESPN's NFL Twitter account sent out this seemingly harmless tweet:
Happy Father's Day to all the NFL Dads out there. pic.twitter.com/BbGdQcPHx2
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) June 21, 2015
The tweet looks innocuous at first glance, but a closer inspection reveals another picture. In a league in which roughly two-thirds of the players are African-American, only one of the eight men featured in the photo is black. That would be Buffalo Bills running back Fred Jackson.
Cleveland Browns wide receiver Andrew Hawkins, himself a father, noticed this and called out ESPN:
You get a D for diversity RT @ESPNNFL: Happy Father's Day to all the NFL Dads out there. pic.twitter.com/AfIU8wZ3KN
— Andrew Hawkins (@Hawk) June 21, 2015
ESPN did have diverse programing on Father's Day, and this tweet wasn't meant to represent the NFL's racial breakdown, but it might have been prudent to include more African-American players.
Hawkins' son, Austin, has become a viral sensation over the past year thanks to a couple of cute videos.
Hawkins himself is coming off a strong year for the Browns, as he posted career highs in receptions (63) and receiving yards (824).
