ESPN corrects article falsely claiming Jacob Blake was ‘unarmed’ after getting ripped for 'indefensible' error

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ESPN left up a false claim for hours that Jacob Blake Jr. was "unarmed" when he was shot by Kenosha, Wis., police officer during a domestic dispute last summer, issuing a correction Sunday after getting called out for "an indefensible journalistic error."

The inaccurate information in a report by Adrian Wojnaroski headlined, "Sources: NBA tells teams to be ready for impact of verdict in Derek Chauvin trial," caught the eye of OutKick founder Clay Travis.

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"Front page @espn article by @wojespn falsely claims Jacob Blake was unarmed when he was shot by police. Blake himself has admitted he was armed with a knife. It has been up for hours now. This is an indefensible journalistic error by ESPN," Travis tweeted.

ESPN eventually changed the story and added the following correction: "ESPN incorrectly reported that Jacob Blake was unarmed when he was shot seven times by Kenosha, Wisconsin, police. Blake said in an interview with Good Morning America on Jan. 14, 2021, that he was carrying a small pocket knife, which he said he had initially dropped."

OutKick’s Bobby Burack wrote that ESPN’s misinformation could "cause more racial division" in America.

"ESPN oddly reworded the story. Instead of lying, ESPN opted to mislead its readers. In the first update, ESPN took out the line that Blake was unarmed but refused to mention he was armed. The idea behind this is to make it seem as if Blake was not a threat," Burack wrote.

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"ESPN responded to our request by pointing us to the 'correction' and said it would not comment on the matter," Burack continued. "Soon after, ESPN updated Wojnarowski’s story for the second time, finally admitting that it ‘incorrectly reported that Jacob Blake was unarmed when he was shot seven times by Kenosha, Wisconsin, police.’"

Travis declared the situation is an example of why people "can’t" trust ESPN.

"So @espn was caught in a blatant lie by @outkick and now they won’t comment on their lie. Perfect. How can you trust anything this network says or does? Put simply, you can’t," Travis wrote.

ESPN declined comment when reached by Fox News.

Kenosha Officer Rusten Sheskey was not charged in the August 2020 incident that left Blake paralyzed from the waist down. Sheskey, who shot Blake as he was about to get into an SUV, has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Sheskey and two other Kenosha officers were trying to arrest Blake on an outstanding warrant when a pocket knife fell from his pants during a scuffle. Blake said he picked it up before heading to a vehicle to drive away with two of his children. He said he was prepared to surrender once he put the knife in the vehicle.

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Sheskey told investigators that he feared for his own safety so he opened fire. 

Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis said the shooting was investigated by an outside agency and has been reviewed by an independent expert as well as the Kenosha County District Attorney. Blake last month filed a civil lawsuit accusing the officer of excessive force.

The Washington Post also came under fire for previously reporting Blake was unarmed during the incident.

Fox News’ Bradford Betz contributed to this report.