Chris Berman has been one of the longest tenured employees at ESPN and is a familiar face to American sports fans across the country.
So when news came that the Connecticut native had extended his contract at the Worldwide Leader in Sports, it was sure to be a joyful occasion.
That is, it was going to be, if fans hadn’t briefly feared the worst thanks to the wording of a tweet from one of Berman’s colleagues.
ESPN’s NFL insider, Adam Schefter, posted a tweet announcing Berman’s new deal – but framed it in a way that many users believed that he was announcing the 70-year-old’s death.
‘Legendary ESPN anchor Chris Berman, who joined the network just after its September 7, 1979, launch, has extended his contract,’ Schefter posted.
In the parlance of social media, that turn of phrase is typically the way that someone would begin to write a death announcement.
Chris Berman has extended his contract to stay at ESPN, where he’s been working since 1979
But Adam Schefter’s tweet about the news had some fearing that Berman tragically died
Berman is alive and well and could possibly be the first ESPN employee to work there 50 years
A number of fans took issue with Schefter’s wording and roasted him online for it.
‘Heart skipped a beat after the first line,’ wrote one user on X, formerly Twitter.
Another scolded Schefter: ‘don’t ever start a tweet like that again.’
‘when it comes to old people yall gotta start tweets like this with “GOOD NEWS!”,’ another user suggested.
The account for the Sleeper fantasy sports app posted, ‘Are you trying to give us heart problems Adam.’
Berman has been a staple of the network for decades, most notably as a host for ‘Sunday NFL Countdown’, ‘Monday Night Countdown’, and ‘NFL Primetime’.
Outside the NFL, Berman has held roles for coverage of the Home Run Derby, the Stanley Cup Finals, and golf tournaments like the US Open and the Travelers Championship.
If Berman stays in this role until 2029, he’ll be the first employee at the cable television company to have stayed there for 50 years.
