Hollywood actor Kevin Hart and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt look nothing alike, so you can imagine the shock and amusement when a photo of one appeared in an NBC News tweet about the other testing positive for Covid-19.
Rushing to break the news that Bolt, 34, had tested positive after a mask-free birthday bash last week, NBC tweeted it out with a photo of the 41-year-old actor instead.
We tried to take a photo of Usain Bolt but he was too fast so here’s Kevin Hart. pic.twitter.com/LIAz34QaTb
The visual gaffe prompted quick and merciless reactions from the public, who wondered whether Bolt was just too fast for photos – or marveled at how the 6’5” (1.95m) Jamaican could be mistaken for a much shorter (5’4”, or 1.62m) American actor.
Among other things, there’s about two feet of difference between Usain Bolt and Kevin Hart. pic.twitter.com/BRwIt1AUTx
Some even accused the network of being “utterly racist” because the only thing Bolt and Hart have in common is the color of their skin.
Hey, @NBCNews, did you post a photo of Kevin Hart with an article on Usain Bolt because you believe all black people look the same? This is utterly racist. pic.twitter.com/FddDOJhCmV
In a correction appended to the article nearly three hours after publication, NBC insisted that a “technical problem” caused the photo of Hart to appear in the tweets, and it was fixed when they uploaded a photo of Bolt.
It appears the original breaking story may not have had a cover photo, so Twitter defaulted to the photo of Hart from the inset related story instead. The actor revealed earlier in the day that he also had a bout with Covid-19.
Bolt, the world record-holding sprinter and winner of eight Olympic gold medals, said he was not experiencing any symptoms and was self-quarantining at his home in Jamaica “just to be safe.”
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