Michael Kay repeats old, false Knicks rumor

There’s often a lot of misinformation out there on social media sites like X/Twitter. It’s particularly problematic when that misinformation gets relayed as real by legitimate media sources. The latest case in point here came from The Michael Kay Show on ESPN New York and YES Friday, where Kay and fellow co-hosts Don La Greca and Peter Rosenberg reacted to the New York Knicks’ second-round NBA selection of Marquette guard Tyler Kolec with discussion about him apparently getting a seven (out of 50, with 20 supposedly indicating average intelligence) on the Wonderlic test. As Funhouse noted on X/Twitter, that’s not close to true:

“Knicks are sending the Blazers future second-round picks for Tyler Kolek at 34, according to a source. Is that the kid with the Wonderlic test?” Kay asked. “What, the one who got a seven or something?” La Greca responded. “Yes,” Kay said, and Rosenberg said “I believe that’s him.” Kay then said “Terrible thing that this would be leaked, but they say, like, he couldn’t read.” La Greca said “Yeah, that’s not good.”

This “report” on Kolek’s supposed illiteracy has been circulating for months. This started as a Providence College Burner Community joke in December, as chronicled by Amanda Christovich of Front Office Sports in March . And Kolek himself made fun of it in December, posting his grades (with a 3.934 GPA):

But this has drawn further attention since then. And one account that’s really sparked is was fake reporter @S_CharlesNFL on X/Twitter. That “Simon Charles” account, whose bio is “Esteemed sports journalist & Patriots Beat Writer Double PHD in Journalism & Female Anatomy,” posted about this in February, and drew a “Kick rocks” response from Marquette compliance official Danielle Josetti:

Undeterred, the “Charles” account posted on this again this week:

And despite the Community Notes now attached to that tweet, it went all over the place, including to some websites and message boards . And many others repeated that “Charles” claim on X/Twitter. It’s unclear where specifically Kay and his cohosts saw this, but the claim has been seen in many places.

There are definitely challenges with evaluating sources quickly while on air. And Kay, La Greca, and Rosenberg are far from the first to get something wrong there; many have been fooled by fake reporter accounts in the past (including by “Charles” ). But this Wonderlic claim definitely should have drawn some skepticism, considering how that’s not a test usually used for NBA prospects and how many issues there have been around test score leaking in the NFL in the past. Instead, it served as a reminder of how much there is out there that just isn’t true.

[Funhouse on X/Twitter]

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