Jackson State Women's Basketball Coach Livid Over How City Was Portrayed In Deion Sanders' '60 Minutes' Episode
Jackson State women's basketball coach Tomekia Reed didn't exactly appreciate Deion Sanders' recent feature on '60 Minutes.' She didn't take issue with the former Jackson State head football coach leaving the program but instead was upset about how CBS portrayed the city of Jackson, Miss., during the interview.
During part of Sanders' sit down with the network, correspondent Jon Wertheim touched on how different the cities of Jackson and Boulder, Colorado, were.
“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," Wertheim said.
As Wertheim's commentary played, the program showed various shots of Boulder and Jackson to portray their differences, which is what Reed took issue with. During Wertheim's comments about Jackson, a video of a dilapidated house was shown.
The home shown during the Deion Sanders' '60 Minutes' special portraying Jackson, Miss. (60 Minutes/YouTube)
"Y'all made Jackson, MS look horrible," Reed wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. "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."
A source with knowledge about CBS and ’60 Minutes’ told OutKick that the image of the house was taken during last year’s feature on Sanders and the home is located near the Jackson State football facility.
While Reed certainly has a point, '60 Minutes' is a television program and television programs go for the 'shock factor' whenever they can.
It's a classic case of two things being true at once. Reed has every right to be upset with CBS because it undoubtedly used a falling-apart house to drive home a point, but just like she has the right to be upset, the network has the right to do exactly what it did.
Follow Mark Harris on X @ItIsMarkHarris