ESPN Will Not Re-Publish “LeBron In Vegas” Article, Says Author “Did Not Properly Identify Himself”

by Dan Fogarty | 2:33 pm, July 29th, 2010

Hey, remember how ESPN pulled that article painting LeBron James as the boy-king of some sort of hyper-sexualized Las Vegas fantasyland? And remember how they released a statement saying the article “didn’t go through the usual editorial process,” which is what led to its being taken down?

One would believe that if this were the case, if indeed Arash Markazi accidentally posted this piece without an ESPN.com Senior Editor seeing it, then we would see the article in some form, at some point.

According to a statement just released by ESPN, this won’t be the case.

Rob King, Vice President of ESPN Digital Media, take it away:

“ESPN.com will not be posting the story in any form. We looked into the situation thoroughly and found that Arash did not properly identify himself as a reporter or clearly state his intentions to write a story. As a result, we are not comfortable with the content, even in an edited version, because of the manner in which the story was reported. We’ve been discussing the situation with Arash and he completely understands. To be clear, the decisions to pull the prematurely published story and then not to run it were made completely by ESPN editorial staff without influence from any outside party.”

Here’s what Markazi said in a written statement, which was included in the same email as King’s statement:

“I have been in conversations with ESPN.com’s editors and, upon their complete review, understand their decision not to run the story. It is important to note that I stand by the accuracy of the story in its entirety, but should have been clearer in representing my intent to write about the events I observed.”

So, let me get this straight: ESPN is saying that they’re not going to run with the story because Markazi didn’t identify himself as a reporter? Then how in the world did he get so close to one of the most famous athletes on the planet?

In the piece itself, Markazi mentions just how tight security was around LeBron. Only after getting the go-ahead from James himself could someone get within a few feet of him, let alone close enough to hear what he’s saying in a crowded Las Vegas nightclub. This explanation from ESPN feels like it has a slight hint of bullshit to it.

[Image via Getty]