It must be difficult to be a modern sports commentator. The networks expect today’s commentators to fill every second of a broadcast with conversation, which means they often have to talk just to fill space.
At the U.S. Open tennis tournament on Thursday, Mary Carillo and Chanda Rubin were calling Serena Williams’ match for ESPN. When the camera panned to some celebrities in the crowd — and there were plenty of them in attendance — the broadcasters mistook legendary singer Dionne Warwick for another legend, Gladys Knight.
To be fair, Knight was also in attendance, and Rubin later claimed on social media that she wasn’t watching the monitor when the camera cut to Warwick.
“Too bad I was initially looking at the court (where Auntie Gladys was in the stands) and not our program monitor that showed Ms. Dionne… mistake was immediately corrected,” she said.
The trouble with that excuse is that Carillo was the first one to acknowledge Knight Warwick on the broadcast.
The two singers responded to their mistaken identity with a sense of gracious humor.
Warwick took to Twitter:
Hi, I’m Gladys Knight… and instead of taking that midnight train to Georgia, I won’t walk on by but will say a little prayer for you 😂😐
— Dionne Warwick (@dionnewarwick) September 1, 2022
And Knight issued a statement, which read, “Dionne and I have been sisters for a long time and I hope she is as honored to be mistaken for me as I would be her. I’m sure it was an honest mistake. It was a blessing to be in the house to see Serena’s greatness.”
It’s good to see that these two legendary women don’t take themselves — or ESPN’s coverage of them — too seriously.
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