Tasteless headline following Gamecocks loss has South Carolina newspaper under scrutiny

A South Carolina newspaper has come under fire after a tasteless headline left many readers outraged on Sunday morning.

The State Newspaper ran a headline titled “Hilinski Hope Sinks” following South Carolina’s 34-14 loss to Missouri on Saturday. While the publication was attempting to incorporate a clever headline about SC’s starting quarterback Ryan Hilinski into its Sunday edition, the word choice was extremely poor.

Ryan Hilinski is the brother of former Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski, who committed suicide in January 2018. Hilinski’s Hope is the name of the foundation the family established to help with suicide prevention and promote mental health and well-being.

After the headline made the rounds on social media, The State Newspaper released several comments on the poor headline choice, issuing an apology to the Hilinski family.

Below are the statements made by the publication.

Our sincerest apologies to the Hilinski family today for the unfortunate headline in our print edition today. Hilinski’s Hope works to raise awareness about mental health issues, especially for student-athletes.

— The State Newspaper (@thestate) September 22, 2019

Although the connection between the headline and the foundation was unintentional, there is no excuse for such poor wording and we have reached out to the family and university to express our regrets.

— The State Newspaper (@thestate) September 22, 2019