Mike Tirico (Photo Via x.com)
When you’re looking for the best of the best in basketball to represent a country at the Olympics, you go to the NBA to create your roster. That is essentially what Team USA did to develop their basketball team for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

They essentially created a super team, headlined by future NBA Hall of Famers like Lebron James and Steph Curry and led by one of the best head coaches in NBA history, Steve Kerr. It’s no wonder they made the gold medal match-up.

Not only did Team USA make an appearance in the gold medal game, but they also won. The USA took on France in the finals, and the winner would take home gold. With Team USA being a powerhouse during the tournament, there was no question that they would win.

After the win, controversy erupted on one of the many broadcasts that hosted the game, NBC. Host Mike Tirico blatantly mistook the Martinique flag for the Palestinian flag after French player Mike Lessort was seen holding it on the court.

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Mike Tirico Called Out After Making Mistake Live On NBC Broadcast

Tirico was cautious after seeing the flag, as he refrained from commenting too much on the hit. After pointing out what he thought was the Palestinian flag, Tirico commented, “We are certainly conscious of any displays regarding the Middle East conflict.”

NBC #Olympics announcer, Mike Tirico, said this was a Palestine flag being displayed by French Olympic basketball player, Mathias Lessort, but it is actually the flag of Martinique – a territory of France… pic.twitter.com/0DwnEgjJUt

— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) August 10, 2024

After noticing his mistake, fans quickly followed the broadcasters’ lead. One fan commented that Lessort was sporting the Martinique flag, which is the area where he was born. The fan even added images of each flag.

Omg Mathias Lessort is wearing a flag from Martinique (the French territory where he was born) but Mike Tirico thinks it’s a Palestinian flag 😬😬😬 pic.twitter.com/2NSnKLxteP

— kiara (@kiaradidwhat) August 10, 2024

Just acknowledging, as soon as possible, my error for misidentifying the Martinique flag as the flag of Palestine during the medal ceremony at Men’s Basketball today. They are similar but obviously distinctly different which is quite important for all involved.

I apologize…

— MikeTirico (@miketirico) August 10, 2024

So much backlash from fans worldwide caused Tirico to post to X apologizing for the mistake. He stated, “Just acknowledging, as soon as possible, my error for misidentifying the Martinique flag as the flag of Palestine during the medal ceremony.“

He ended the post by apologizing for the mistake, noting that it was essential to realize that the flags are different and meaningful in their own ways. After hearing the error live on air, we hope this is a learning curve for everyone who could have mistaken these two flags.