ABC’s broadcast of the Knicks-Heat game on Sunday used a stock image that contained the World Trade Center, according to Awful Announcing and other recordings of the segment.
“We mistakenly used an old stock image and we apologize,” an ESPN spokesperson told The Post in a statement.
During halftime of Game 1 at Madison Square Garden, the broadcast cut to a shot with the Statue of Liberty in view and what appeared to be the Twin Towers in the background, near the bottom of the screen.
The broadcast had shown a video of Stephen Curry ahead of the Warriors’ Game 7 on Sunday against the Kings, a broadcast that followed the Knicks-Heat game on the network.
But then, a few seconds later, the screen with the Statue of Liberty and Twin Towers appeared, and it remained for at least eight seconds as a message was read about MetaQuest presenting ABC’s halftime report.
That would make the stock footage used by ABC more than 21 years old.
Last year, Fox Sports also made an insensitive error on its “Baseball Night in America” broadcast when it placed the Yankees and Red Sox logos over the two memorial pools at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, where the North and South towers stood.
“During last night’s telecast, we used poor judgment on the use of a graphic,” a Fox Sports spokesman told Deadline in July 2022. “We sincerely apologize and regret the decision.”
Game 2 of the second-round matchup between the Knicks and Heat is at the Garden on Tuesday in which New York will be looking to even the best-of-seven series.
The Knicks fell 108-101 in Game 1 at the Garden.