Story highlights
NBA phenom Jeremy Lin is a Harvard graduate
Ice cream shop put fortune cookies in flavor named for him
Ben & Jerry's location has since removed that ingredient
ESPN fired a writer over an offensive headline about Lin
Ben & Jerry’s has apologized for putting fortune cookies in pints of its “Taste the Lin-Sanity” frozen yogurt sold at its Harvard Square, Massachusetts, location in honor of basketball sensation Jeremy Lin.
“We offer a heartfelt apology if anyone was offended by our handmade Lin-Sanity flavor,” read a statement issued Friday on behalf of Ben & Jerry’s Boston Scoop Shops.
“We are proud and honored to have Jeremy Lin hail from one of our fine, local universities and we are huge sports fans. Our intention was to create a flavor to honor Jeremy Lin’s accomplishments and his meteoric rise in the NBA, and recognize that he was a local Harvard graduate,” the statement said. “We try (to) demonstrate our commitment as a Boston-based, valued-led business and if we failed in this instance we offer our sincere apologies.”
The fortune cookies have since been replaced with waffle cookies.
The misstep isn’t the only one that has surrounded the hype over the Asian-American guard for the NBA’s New York Knicks.
ESPN fired a writer over a controversial headline.
The headline read “Chink in the Armor: Jeremy Lin’s 9 Turnovers Cost Knicks in Streak-stopping Loss to Hornets.” The phrase – Chink in the Armor – contains a word that has two meanings; one is an ethnic slur.
An anchor who used the same phrase was suspended, the sports network said last Sunday.
Lin, 23, came off the bench earlier this month to guide the Knicks to win after improbable win. The unlikely star of Taiwanese descent quickly turned into a global brand and “Linsanity” became the phrase of the times.