Gee Scott: Seattle Times needs to issue correction for column on Seahawks’ Michael Bennett
May 22, 2017, 12:03 PM | Updated: May 23, 2017, 6:55 am
Update: The Seattle Times updated its column about Michael Bennett to reflect Bennett’s private apology to Q13 FOX reporter Bill Wixey, and writer Matt Calkins has responded with an apology for the original article in a separate story. Bennett tweeted the following on Monday night:
@seattletimes @Matt_Calkins pic.twitter.com/ziAtnqlfYQ
— Michael Bennett (@mosesbread72) May 23, 2017
Gee Scott doesn’t have a problem with Seattle Times columnist Matt Calkins having an opinion about Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett, but he does have a problem with something he wrote in his story with the headline “Seahawks’ Michael Bennett does great things, but why the immaturity?”
That would be that Calkins wrote that Bennett never apologized to Q13 FOX reporter Bill Wixey for yelling at him following Seattle’s playoff loss to the Atlanta Falcons, which Scott said is inaccurate.
“Michael Bennett reached out to Bill Wixey. He had a conversation with Bill Wixey to apologize to him, so that part right there, I hope that there is a correction in The Seattle Times,” Scott said.
In his article, Calkins wrote that at the time of Bennett’s outburst in which he asked Wixey what adversity he had ever gone through, he was unaware that Wixey was a cancer survivor, but “the fact that he never apologized or even acknowledged it reeks of immaturity.”
Bennett took offense to the article, saying that he will not give interviews to the Times for the rest of his career.
As for Calkins’ opinion that Bennett is immature, while Scott is understanding of it, he doesn’t agree and found the timing odd considering Bennett had a pair of charitable events over the weekend.
“Yeah, he has a lot of fun. He enjoys life. But (considering) what he does in the community, c’mon,” Scott said.
Hear Scott’s full thoughts on the issue in the video above.