USA Today heavily amended an article that suggested Brett Kavanaugh should not coach young girls in basketball anymore.
An opinion article titled “Is Brett Kavanaugh right that he can no longer coach girls basketball?” appeared in the USA Today sports section, but was taken down after it was posted on social media.
I see that @USATODAY decided to delete….but you can't just undue the harm to someone's reputation! SHAME! pic.twitter.com/H5Gs0UjgHi
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) September 30, 2018
“The U.S. Senate may yet confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, but he should stay off basketball courts for now when kids are around,” wrote sports reporter Erik Brady. “The nation is newly vigilant on who coaches and trains its children given recent scandals in gymnastics and other sports,” the article read.
“Credibly accused sex offenders should not coach youth basketball, girls or boys, without deeper investigation. Can’t we all agree on that?” he asked.
“I love coaching more than anything I’ve ever done in my whole life,” Kavanaugh said on Thursday as he defended himself against several sexual-assault charges. “Thanks to what some of you on this side of the committee have unleashed, I may never be able to coach again.”
After California psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford accused Kavanaugh of attempting to rape her at a party in the early 1980s when they were both minors in high school, several critics raised an eyebrow about the fact he coached his pre-teen daughters’ basketball team, hinting at the notion the judge may be a pervert.
The New York Times editorial board cast a subtle shadow on the nominee in an editorial that remarked Kavanaugh has a “penchant” for coaching young girls.
“Ford’s charge shattered Kavanaugh’s carefully crafted tableau, calling into doubt the image he projected. The row of young girls, legs bare in their private-school skirts, looked different now,” wrote Time magazine’s Molly Ball.
Kavanaugh’s discussion of his coaching had a more light-hearted tone during his first week of hearings. “All the girls are awesome,” he said. “I know that confidence on the basketball court translates into confidence elsewhere in life.”