The BBC has apologized after it used footage of LeBron James during a news segment on Kobe Bryant's death

Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images

LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

• The BBC News at 10 aired footage of LeBron James during a news segment about the unexpected death of Kobe Bryant on Sunday.
• Bryant was one of the nine people who died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.
• The BBC apologized for the incident later in the segment, saying: "In our coverage of the death of Kobe Bryant, in one section of the report, we mistakenly showed pictures of another basketball player, LeBron James."
• BBC News at 10 journalist Paul Royall tweeted that the mistake was down to "human error."
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The BBC has apologized for using footage of LeBron James instead of Kobe Bryant during a news segmenton the former LA Lakers player's unexpected death.

Bryant, a five-time NBA champion, died in a helicopter crash at age 41 on Sunday alongside his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna "Gigi" Bryant. Nine people died in the crash in Calabasas, California.

The BBC News at 10 told viewers this while showing a photograph of Bryant with his daughter.

But it then aired a clip which appeared to show current Lakers player James walking off the court, having recently topped Bryant's personal NBA scoring record of 33,643 points. James currently has 33,655 points.

BuzzFeed's Deputy World News Editor Matthew Champion tweeted the video of segment, saying: "I genuinely cannot believe that the actual BBC News at 10 just did this."

Sky News presenter Mark Austin added: "Dear @BBCNews ... that was LeBron James in your Ten o'clock News piece not Kobe Bryant."

At the end of the bulletin, Reeta Chakrabarti, who was reading the news for the BBC at the time, said: "In our coverage of the death of Kobe Bryant, in one section of the report, we mistakenly showed pictures of another basketball player, LeBron James.

"We do apologize for the error."

The BBC News at 6 and BBC News at 10 journalist Paul Royall said on Twitter on Sunday that the mistake was down to "human error."

"In tonight's coverage of the death of Kobe Bryant on BBC News at 10 we mistakenly used pictures of LeBron James in one section of the report," Royall tweeted.

"We apologize for this human error which fell below our usual standards on the programme."

Read more:

Kobe Bryant stopped to help when he witnessed a car crash in 2018, and one of the survivors says the former NBA star fist-bumped his son for months afterwards

Tiger Woods heard cheers for Kobe Bryant while playing, but did not learn of his death until after tournament

LeBron James was seen grieving outside of Lakers' team plane after Kobe Bryant's death

Alicia Keys gave an emotional speech about Kobe Bryant's death to start the Grammys

Police criticized TMZ for reporting Kobe Bryant's death before they could notify victims' families

I genuinely cannot believe that the actual BBC News at 10 just did this pic.twitter.com/n6csMV9OOG

- Matthew Champion (@matthewchampion) January 26, 2020

In tonight's coverage of the death of Kobe Bryant on #BBCNewsTen we mistakenly used pictures of LeBron James in one section of the report. We apologise for this human error which fell below our usual standards on the programme.

- Paul Royall (@paulroyall) January 26, 2020

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