During South Carolina’s loss against Ole Miss, defensive lineman Dylan Stewart was flagged for a sack celebration against Jaxson Dart, which had Stewart pretending to shoot Dart while he was on the ground.
Stewart was quickly fined for it and then received much backlash on social media. However, it was thought that many had passed the issue, but things just got worse.
Recently, ESPN showcased the graphic for the South Carolina and Alabama game, with quarterback Jalen Milore for the Crimson Tide and Stewart for USC.
The problem is that the network used the picture of him pretending to shoot Dart, which, for obvious reasons, isn’t a good idea.
Dog…. ESPN used the graphic of the South Carolina DEND emptying the clip in the qb to represent South Carolina lmfaooo pic.twitter.com/fUeN6GB283
— retro (@CourtneeHendrix) October 12, 2024
ESPN is now receiving a ton of backlash for the decision.
“It’s a flag, but ESPN will still promote it. Pathetic business,” said one comment.
“Should be illegal for major networks to use graphics on plays where players were penalized in yards or dollars,” said another.
“Look man you can either say players aren’t allowed to mimic shooting guns OR you can market using the pics of players doing that BUT you can’t do both,” continued a third.
“ESPN falling off Trying to be So Hip to everything,” added a fourth.
Head Coach Shane Beamer Commented On Dylan Stewart’s Celebration
The controversy over the celebration was big enough for South Carolina’s head coach, Shane Beamer, to be asked about it at a news conference.
“I know you are specifically asking about the Dylan Stewart play, which is unacceptable,” he said. “Dylan Stewart feels awful about that play, Dylan Stewart is a really good kid, his mom feels awful about that play. She was very emotional after the game.
Hopefully, this was a one-time incident, and Stewart will be able to learn from it and move on.
