On Sunday, former First Lady Rosalynn Carter passed away at 96. CBS ran a breaking news graphic for that on the bottom part of the screen during its NFL games, but that graphic was covered up on YouTube TV streaming whiparound show NFL RedZone. So RedZone host Scott Hanson relayed the news of Rosalynn Carter’s death to viewers, but made one crucial mistake. Hanson referred to her as “the wife of the late president Jimmy Carter,” but Carter himself is still alive at 99.
NFL RedZone host Scott Hanson prematurely killed off Jimmy Carter. "I'll just pass along to you that Rosalynn Carter, the wife of the late president Jimmy Carter, has died at the age of 96. Rosalynn Carter and Jimmy Carter were married for 77 years." pic.twitter.com/VQi1egIM68
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 19, 2023
“Our crawl at the bottom of the screen was covering up the CBS News special report. I’ll just pass along to you that Rosalynn Carter, the wife of the late president Jimmy Carter, has died at the age of 96. Rosalynn Carter and Jimmy Carter were married for 77 years.”
Shortly afterwards, Hanson corrected himself:
Here's how Hanson later corrected that. pic.twitter.com/c2ZGnZFUEi
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 19, 2023
“By the way, when I just shared the Rosalynn Carter information, I believe I accidentally said the late Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter, still alive, Rosalynn Carter has passed away at the age of 96.”
This led to quite the reactions on Twitter:
John Wilkes Booth killed Abraham Lincoln.
Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK.
And Scott Hanson just killed Jimmy Carter #NFLRedZone
— Chris C (@Ch31in) November 19, 2023
absolutely losing it at scott hanson breaking the news of roslyn carter passing on redzone, referring to Jimmy as "the late jimmy carter" and having to issue a correction a few minutes later. highlight of the year.
— Ian From The Build (@MaybeItsIan) November 19, 2023
scott hanson learning he announced the death of the wrong carter pic.twitter.com/A5qnmSp5te
— brianna pirre (@bsp_13) November 19, 2023
Scott Hanson was on NFL RedZone telling us Jimmy Carter is dead, then issuing an apology because Jimmy Carter is still alive
peak NFL season right here
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod ?? (@big_business_) November 19, 2023
i am losing my mind at scott hanson having to correct himself and say that jimmy carter is not, in fact, dead
— Robby Kalland (@RKalland) November 19, 2023
Mistakes happen, especially when covering that many games at once and when dealing with a notable update from outside the sports realm. And Hanson did correct this relatively quickly; the correction came on the next play of the Bears-Lions game. But this was still a memorable NFL broadcasting error.