ESPN issues public apology after Kendrick Perkins claimed NBA MVP voters were predominantly white

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ESPN publicly corrected "First Take" panelist, former NBA center Kendrick Perkins, following his notion that NBA MVP voters are predominantly white, which has led to Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic winning multiple MVP awards. 

Co-host Molly Qerim began Wednesday’s episode of the popular sports debate show with a statement correcting Perkins’ comments on Tuesday that 80% of NBA MVP voters where white, claiming it was a fact. 

"I want to correct something here from yesterday’s show," Qerim started off. "When Kendrick Perkins said 80% of NBA voters for the MVP award are white, the NBA publicly announces the voters each year, and after review, it is clear the panel is much more diverse than what was portrayed by Kendrick Perkins and we wanted to make sure we corrected that today."

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Kendrick Perkins attends the Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game during the 2022 NBA All-Star Weekend at Wolstein Center on February 18, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)

There were 100 voters for the league MVP last year, per the NBA, and there will be 100 again this year. Perkins was among the voters last year. 

The argument by Perkins began last week when he noted only three players since 1990 winning MVP despite being out of the top 10 in points per game: Jokic in 2020-21 to win his first MVP, Dirk Nowitzki (2006-07) and Steve Nash (2004-05, 2005-06). 

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Then, he dropped this comment. 

"What do those guys have in common? I’ll let it sit there and marinate. You think about