It's been more than a month since former ESPN employee Anthony Federico was fired over his controversial "chink in the armor" headline (as you'll recall, this was written for an article about Knick's player Jeremy Lin). Following the incident, which made national news and led to accusations that Federico's headline was written with racist intentions, Lin has met with the former sports network employee.
Newsday reports about the contents of the meeting as well as Federico's response to the opportunity to chat with the Knicks player:
Lin met with Anthony Federico, a 28-year-old Connecticut man, during a Knicks off-day. According to Federico, the two discussed their shared Christian faith and Lin's knee injury. [...]"It went incredible," Federico said. "I'm just so excited we had a chance to meet. We talked for an hour. I'm just so thankful."
A Knicks spokesman said on Wednesday that Lin did not wish to publicly discuss the meeting. Calls to Lin's agent were not returned.
While Lin didn't wish to discuss the meeting, Federico has shared his version of the details with reporters. According to the former ESPN employee, a member of Lin's family reached out to him in an e-mail and inevitably set up the meeting. The two chatted at a restaurant in New York City about a variety of subjects.
"We talked more about matters of faith [and] reconciliation," Federico explains. "We talked about our shared Christian values and what we're both trying do with this situation...We didn't talk about the headline for more than three minutes."
Federico was elated over the conversation, as he he subsequently called Lin "a wonderful, humble person." He was more than thankful that the basketball star took the time to meet with him following such a chaotic media spectacle.
Last month, Federico released a full statement addressing the controversy.
"I wrote the headline in reference to the tone of the column and not to Jeremy Lin’s race," he explained. "It was a lapse in judgment and not a racist pun. It was an awful editorial omission and it cost me my job."
(H/T: Gothamist)
