Fox News aired images of Philadelphia Eagles players kneeling — but not during anthem

Fox News apparently was unable to distinguish between a pregame prayer and a player protest during the national anthem. Could happen to anyone, sure. Or maybe it’s just that the fair-and-balanced network didn’t let facts get in the way of the image it wished to air.

Either way, it did not go over well with fans and players:

As you can see, in the wake of President Trump’s disinviting the Philadelphia Eagles to the White House, Fox News depicted several players as having taken a knee during the anthem. But that’s not what was actually going on at all. In fact, not a single Eagles player knelt in protest all season long.

Let Zach Ertz take it from here:

And then the internet did its thing:

Fox News on Tuesday apologized for the “error,” saying in a statement that “we showed unrelated footage of players kneeling in prayer” and acknowledging that “no members of the team knelt in protest during the national anthem throughout regular or post-season last year.”

Fox News parent 21st Century Fox and MarketWatch parent News Corp share ownership.

As for what really happened in the lead-up to the planned Super Bowl celebration, Politico reporter Annie Karnie said the White House narrative was that it had been an attempt by the Eagles to “publicly humiliate” the president:

Perhaps not such a farfetched theory, considering the Philadelphia mayor’s having called Trump a “fragile egomaniac” for withdrawing the invitation — followed by this tweet from the mayoral chief of staff: