NEW ORLEANS — Ben Bolch, the Los Angeles Times writer who wrote the controversial column titled: UCLA-LSU is America’s sweethearts vs. its basketball villains, issued an apology about an hour before LSU's Elite Eight matchup.
Bolch said it took him two days to write the apology because he wanted to be as thoughtful as possible.
The Los Angeles Times has updated the story multiple times since it was published Friday.
In the original version of the story, Bolch said, "Do you prefer America’s sweethearts or its dirty debutantes? Milk and cookies or Louisiana hot sauce? That line was removed in one of the first updates of the column.
"Words matter. As a journalist, no one should know this more than me. Yet I have failed miserably in my choice of words. In my column previewing the LSU-UCLA women's basketball game, I tried to be clever in my phrasing about one team's attitude, using alliteration while not understanding the deeply offensive connotation or associations," Bolch said.
Bolch finished his apology by saying he was deeply sorry.
Here is the full apology:
Since the column was published, Kim Mulkey and Hailey Van Lith have called it "sexist and racist."
"Some of the words that were used in that article were very sad and upsetting, and, you know, I didn't really—I actually didn't want us to—read the article before the game because hearing stuff like that, it's not right. And it's not that type of description of us isn't always motivating," Van Lith said.
The Tigers take on Iowa's Caitlin Clark with a berth to the Final Four on the line, Monday night at 6:15 p.m. CST.
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