National and local media are reporting on a viral video showing Philadelphia’s mayor misspelling “Eagles” while leading a chant – problem is, they’re misspelling the way she misspelled the NFL team’s name.
If you’re going to do a news story making fun of how someone misspelled something, it seems you should at least get the misspelling right when you report it.
Mayor Cherelle Parker did shout out the wrong spelling at an outdoor event captured on video Sunday, when she clearly urged the crowd to shout out “E-L-G-L-E-S.”
But, that’s not what local station WPHL-TV reported Wednesday:
“It may as well be the Philadelphia national anthem since we all know it by heart, but in an unfortunate mishap, the Philadelphia Mayor messed up the chant during a press conference yesterday and misspelled ‘Eagles’.
“Let me hear you all sing, ‘E-L-G-S-E-S, Eagles!’ said Mayor Parker while leading the chant.”
NBC 10 in Philadelphia went one step farther: not only did its on-air news anchor verbally misspell the misspelling – he did it immediately after playing a video clip of the mayor chanting “E-L-G-L-E-S”:
CBS, Fox Sports Radio, NBC Detroit Local, CW Philadelphia 17, NBC 10 Philadelphia, and Penn Live are among the media outlets that apparently didn’t bother to watch the video before crafting their reports.
PhillyVoice.com didn’t just get the misspelling wrong – it also reported that a website is selling a T-shirt emblazoned with the (incorrect) misspelling:
“Phillygoat, a company founded by a trio of Delco brothers, is selling a kelly green shirt with ‘E-L-G-S-E-S’ stamped in white letters along the front. The shirt is unisex and 100% cotton; it's selling for $32.99.
‘The online description for the item reads, "Sounds like our mayor's E-A-G-L-E-S chant needs a bit of work.’"
Here are a few screenshots of media misspelling Philadelphia Mayor Parker’s misspelling of her hometown NFL team’s name: