An Apology From Our Editors: Jim Thome Did Not Direct Black Panther

Here at Sports Riot we take accountability for our mistakes. In keeping with that sentiment, in 2018, we mistakenly reported that MLB hall-of-fame member Jim Thome directed the critically acclaimed Marvel movie “Black Panther.” Thome was a first and third baseman primarily for the Cleveland Indians and was in no way involved with the Marvel film that featured the African comic book character. 

In the same article, we reported that Jim Thome said, “Whatever amount of Jollof rice the jambalaya recipe tells you to use, double it,” this was not true. We got incorrect information from our source who told us Thome was a lover of the greater subcontinent and got his Ph.D. in Black/African Studies. We promise not to let it happen again.

Similarly a former researcher intern here at Sports Riot wrongly identified Thome as being the young white child that can be seen in pictures at the front of march at Selma alongside Dr. Martin Luther King. This was published and is, once again, untrue. This seemed to be something like a perfect storm at Sports Riot while writing the article, because we also falsely reported that Jim Thome exclusively wore a traditional robe made out of Kente cloth before and after games. These mistakes led us to finally conclude that Thome’s abstaining from playing any games on Kwanzaa throughout his career was just a coincidence.

We would like to formally apologize to the actual director of Black Panther is renowned Atlanta native, Chipper Jones. Additionally, we discovered that Jones will be directing a new movie set for release in 2027, Roots 2: The Squeakquel.