A former ESPN writer who was fired for a racist headline involving Jeremy Lin has now become a priest.
NY Post reports that Anthony Federico, 33, was fired after a racist headline about former Knicks star Jeremy Lin in 2012. Federico, who was 28 at the time, wrote “Chink in the Armor” for a story that discussed Lin’s poor performance.
After seeing the disgusted reaction from social media, Federico was reportedly physically sick and “devastated”. Although Lin met with the writer shortly after the headline was published, ESPN soon fired the writer.
Federico apologised to Lin, stating he did not mean the headline to carry racial connotations.
“We talked more about matters of faith [and] reconciliation,” Federico said. “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.”
Failing to continue his passion for sports writing with other media outlets, Federico has now turned to spreading the word of God..
“Everyone thinking of me as a bad person, an evil person — it was the worst 30 days of my life,” Federico, told the Washington Post.
“To think I could be in a place now where I’m genuinely happy with my life and excited about serving the people of God — if you told me that then, I wouldn’t have believed it. I think the thing that Jesus does best is second chances.”
Federico is now becoming a Catholic priest.
“Looking back, I think God allowed this to happen to me to put me on a path to being a priest, a path that I was avoiding,” added
