LA Times reporter apologizes for column about LSU players after Kim Mulkey calls out sexism

Los Angeles Times reporter Ben Bolch has apologized for a column he wrote that called LSU women's basketball players "dirty debutantes" and described the UCLA-LSU matchup as "good versus evil." The apology came two days after LSU coach Kim Mulkey condemned the column and said she wouldn't stand by and watch her team be attacked.

Bolch wrote Monday on X, formerly Twitter, that he was not asked by anyone at the Times to publicly address the column but he wanted to express himself "so that I can own up to my mistake."

"Words matter. As a journalist, no one should know this more than me. Yet I have failed miserably in my choice of words. In my column previewing the LSU-UCLA women's basketball game, I tried to be clever in my phrasing about one team's attitude, using alliteration while not understanding the deeply offensive connotation or associations. I also used metaphors that were not appropriate. Our society has had to deal with so many layers of misogyny, racism and negativity that I can now see why the words I used were wrong. It was not my intent to be hurtful, but I now understand that I terribly missed the mark.

"I sincerely apologize to the LSU and UCLA basketball teams and to our readers."

The LA Times column was published Saturday before LSU and UCLA played in their Sweet 16 game of the NCAA Tournament in Albany, New York. The column was changed Sunday and republished with a note that the original version "did not meet Times editorial standards."

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Mulkey addressed the column at a news conference Saturday.

“How dare people attack kids like that?” Mulkey asked. “You don't have to like the way we play. You don't have to like the way we trash talk. You don't have to like any of that. We're good with that.

“But I can't sit up here as a mother and a grandmother and a leader of young people and allow somebody to say that.

“I'm in the last third of my career, but I'm not going to let sexism continue. And if you don't think that's sexism, then you're in denial,” Mulkey said.

Contributing: Nancy Armour, Steve Gardner