CBS ’60 Minutes’ Under Fire Over Deion Sanders Profile
Jackson State women’s basketball coach Tomekia Reed has blasted CBS‘ 60 Minutes for the way it portrayed Jackson, Mississippi, in Sunday’s (September 17) feature on former NFL player turned coach Deion Sanders.
The segment on the show saw Coach Prime, as Sanders is known, interviewed by 60 Minutes correspondent Jon Wertheim, focusing on the legendary NFL cornerback’s move from head coach of Jackson State to the University of Colorado Boulder.
In the report, Wertheim highlighted the differences between Jackson and Boulder, including things such as housing and environment.
“The distance between Jackson and Boulder is a thousand miles, and immeasurably further culturally,” Wertheim said. “Sanders went from a city that is 83 percent black to one that is one percent black. From a place with a water crisis to a kind of hipster college town where there’s a shop devoted to kites.”
During Wertheim’s voice-over, the video showed a shot of a dilapidated house.
CBS/YouTube
“@60Minutes y’all made Jackson, MS look horrible,” Reed tweeted Sunday (September 17) night. “You should be ashamed of yourselves for showing the worst house you can find in America and make it like that describes us. I’m not even sure if that abandoned house you showed is even in Jackson. #ThisisHome.”
When a commenter asked her what the show was about, Reed replied, “It was comparing Jackson, MS to Boulder, CO. They showed very nice locations in Boulder and showed the worst they could find in Jackson, MS. We have so much more to show that wouldn’t have hurt @60Minutes to take time to spotlight.”
@60Minutes y’all made Jackson, MS look horrible. You should be ashamed of yourselves for showing the worst house you can find in America and make it like that describes us. I’m not even sure if that abandoned house you showed is even in Jackson. #ThisisHome
— Coach Tomekia Reed (@CoachTReed) September 18, 2023
While 60 Minutes and Wertheim have not directly responded to Reed’s comments, a source “with knowledge of CBS” told the New York Post that the image of the house was shot near the Jackson State football facility and included in last year’s feature on Sanders.
Andrew Wevers/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
Reed, who has coached the Jackson State women’s basketball since 2018 and led them to four regular season wins and two conference tournament placements, found support from other viewers.
“That’s crazy, we over here saying the same thing,” wrote one Twitter/X user, while another said, “Coach Reed.. This message gives me chills and makes me weep for our city at the same time.. Just a horrible depiction of our beloved city of Jackson!”
However, some others disagreed, with one person writing, “I mean… it is horrible. It was easily one of the worst cities I’ve ever visited in my life. This was before the pandemic, summer 2018.”
Another said, “I mean the city is horrible.”
60 Minutes, Sundays, 7:30/6:30 c, CBS
Conversation24 Comments
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Comments are closed on this story.
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D
I'm black American and raised in a majority black city in the '60s called Detroit. One thing I've learned about black folks is they spurn the fact that the black race has not been on a level economic field with whites. The notion that when a few black folks are successful and get rich then any and all black folks can get rich is the biggest fallacy in the black community.
Where change starts is when you recognize a problem and address it head on instead of ignoring it.
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I don't think that is what she (Coach) was trying to say, to me all she was saying was that 60 Mins. Did the same thing most media outlets in this country do, and that is show the bright side of white areas and focus on the worst possible areas in black communities, as if to say "white is better" when I'm sure there are good and bad in both!! And it be nice to see that reflected.
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P
My point is if you look at only one side of an equation you will never find the solution.
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J
Black areas dominate in violent crime. Very consistently & extremely disproportionately. Why is that? And why doesn't this race get the credit it deserves for the violent dominant statistics?
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O
I can't comment on the overall conditions in Jackson, but I can say that in 12 years of truck driving the one and only time my rig was broken into, it occurred in a truck stop in Jackson. Fortunately, there was no way the cargo could have been plundered, so the only thing lost was my time making the police report.
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Well it's true if he wasn't there none of that would happen. Things could have changed before he got there but nobody took the initiative and he's the one that initiated it followed through all the other coaches could have done something before he got there and they didn't
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C
I'm sure Bolder, Denver and other Colorado cities has poverty and homes like that !
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O
Fortunately you are wrong on this you will not find one house like that in Boulder . If there was one it was there long before I moved here. I am from Jacksonville FL and you can see houses like this all over the city. But Boulder that would would be negative bought a gentrified years ago. Property value is absurd in that town.
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P
There is that place in every city in America. But that is typically what the press does. It is classist BS of the highest order, and pretty lowbrow for 60 Minutes. Shame on them. Much respect to Jackson for standing up for themselves.
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O
Quit watching 60 Minutes years ago.
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G
When God spew His wrath over the world the way blacks are treated, it will not be pretty!!! I need to get my life in order now! Kneeling isn't killing America! It's racism ( the ultimate sin)!!
10 5
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C
Then stop spreading racism.
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P
Amen need to pay people more 7.25 an hour isn't enough work hard all our life security security payment aren't enough food so high.
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R
They got time to waste talking about someone making Jackson look bad but Jackson actually looks bad and they not doing anything to make it look better but be jealous and attention seeking...
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B
The people of Jackson complaining about Prime Time leaving for Colorado..didn't they brake into his office and his car in Jackson and steal stuff?
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C
I’m not upset it proves a point I’ve been trying to make since he left, he has the right to do what he wants but he was needed way more in Jackson than Colorado but people love money
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O
I've been thinking along the same lines. We are constantly reminded of how HSBC schools struggle, in large part due to racism, yet elite athletes still go to major programs. Sanders signed up and was raising the level of play and exposure but still chose to leave.
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His choice he’s a grown man
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B
What @Ms Hill said👍🏾.
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O
There is more to this story why Deon left. The school promise him 10% portion of ticket sales after 30,000. The stadium seats 60,492. For a while they were sold out, but at the end of the night. Deon would get a check for $14,000 from ticket sales. Do the math. If he got a $1 for the remaining 30,492 seats, that would surpass what they gave him each week. Cheapest Tickets when he was there was $55.do the math. Using simple numbers. 30,000 seats × $50 a seat= 1,500,000. 10% of that is $150,000. You would be disgruntle too. Plus when go to a Bowl game, win or loose. The school gets money. Deon was not pleased because the Athlete Department would get less then 20% of the money the team earned from Bowl Appearance. All of the money shold have gone to whatever sport made the Bowl. There was shady financial doings that Deon walked away from. Where did the money go he questioned? Ticket sales his correct portion and the other 80% for Bowl Appearance.
I would have left also.
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C
Jackson has some pretty areas. No worse than Shreveport la or baton rouge or mobile. Al where i live
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J
Black<Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic.
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P
I've been to Jackson a few times while playing softball and I always loved going there nothing bad ever happened while I was there at least not to me.
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C
Due to racism? 🤔
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