Kentucky newspaper had shocking John Calipari error

John Calipari. Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Kentucky newspaper adds insult to injury with John Calipari headline error

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Steve DelVecchio | Last updated 3/25/24

John Calipari is not the most popular man in Kentucky after the Wildcats fell victim to a stunning NCAA Tournament upset, and a headline in the local newspaper added insult to injury.

The Lexington Herald-Leader had a stunning error in the print version of its publication on Monday. The front-page headline of the newspaper featured an article about Calipari in which the coach’s name was spelled “Kalipari.”

This is an unbelievable error by the Herald Leader

Wow pic.twitter.com/vu4Cqxp7NQ

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) March 25, 2024

It almost seems intentional for a mistake that egregious to make it to print. The article was written by longtime columnist John Clay, who obviously knows how to spell Calipari’s name. Clay was arguing that Kentucky should not fire Calipari and pay his massive buyout.

So how did this happen? Former Herald-Leader reporter Josh Moore noted that the publication has not had a local copy desk for several years due to budget cuts. The headline was probably written by someone in another part of the country or possibly even outside of it, according to Moore.

Local copy-editing jobs (and copy-editing jobs, in general) have been eliminated across the industry. LHL hasn’t had a local copy desk for at least 5-6 years, now. This could’ve been written anywhere in the country (and possibly out of it).

Doesn’t excuse it at all, still.

— Joshua Moore (@JoshMooreHL) March 25, 2024

Whatever the case, the timing of the blunder was brutal. Calipari is facing serious scrutiny after No. 3 seed Kentucky lost to No. 14 seed Oakland in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last week. There are already plenty of people in Wildcats country calling for Calipari to be fired. Now the local newspaper is butchering his name on top of it.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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