Sky Sports News have apologised to Raheem Sterling for an error in their reporting of his tattoo.
The England international was pictured earlier this week with the image of what appears to be an M16 rifle on his lower right leg. The Sun saw fit to run this as the main story on front pages of Tuesday’s editions of their newspaper, describing the tattoo as ‘sick’ and featuring quotes from anti-gun campaigners calling for him to be removed from England’s World Cup squad.
The Manchester City forward later responded to the report, explaining via his Instagram account that the tattoo was a reminder of how he had promised never to touch guns following the death of his father, who died after being shot when the former Liverpool player had been a small child.
During a report on Sterling’s explanation of his tattoo, Sky Sports News mistakenly included the word ‘again’ in an onscreen graphic. Having spotted this, the error was soon circulated by social media users.
https://twitter.com/adamkeyworth/status/1001584048790233089
On Wednesday, Sky Sports News’ official twitter account tweeted an apology:
‘Last night we made a mistake in our reporting of Raheem Sterling’s statement on his tattoo. We apologise for this error and any distress it has caused Raheem and his family.’
Last night we made a mistake in our reporting of Raheem Sterling's statement on his tattoo. We apologise for this error and any distress it has caused Raheem and his family.
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) May 30, 2018
Sterling is currently preparing for this summer’s World Cup, with England’s first group game taking place against Tunisia on June 18. Their first warm-up game takes place at Wembley this weekend, when they take on Nigeria.
