Jeff Pearlman, the former Sports Illustrated writer and prolific sports biographer who has recently become most known for calling out other journalists, is getting a taste of his own medicine.
This week, a sports content creator who goes by Velodus alleged that Pearlman, on his Press Box Chronicles YouTube channel, plagiarized much of a 2021 video posted by Velodus on former MLB phenom Ruben Rivera (Editor’s note: Velodus has previously contributed freelance articles to Awful Announcing).
The original video from Velodus chronicled Rivera’s rise and fall with the Yankees, as well as an infamous incident in which the young outfielder stole Derek Jeter’s glove. Recently, an incredibly similar video was posted to Pearlman’s channel, which boasts nearly 15 times as many subscribers as that of Velodus. Pearlman’s video also seemingly included an advertisement for an eyeglasses company.
Velodus then created a follow-up video breaking down all of the photos and footage that Pearlman allegedly lifted from the 2021 original.
The follow-up video shows 23 purported instances of plagiarism, including old newspaper clippings, game footage from his career, and still headshots of Rivera. Some, according to Velodus, maintain the original edits made for the original 2021 video. In the days since, Velodus took to social media to publicize Pearlman’s alleged plagiarism and stubborn response. The author then deleted his account on Bluesky, his primary social media platform, and later switched the Rivera video to private.
And in a TikTok video posted Friday afternoon, Pearlman acknowledged “taking” much of Velodus’ original video, apologized, and pledged that he and his production team would do more to avoid these mistakes in the future.
In a video captioned “On a Ruben Rivera video, plagiarism accusations, YouTube shows and confusing landscapes,” Pearlman recalled his initial defensiveness toward Velodus, saying he was “snarky and d*ckish,” followed by conversations with family and multiple viewings of Velodus’ original video on Rivera as well as the breakdown alleging plagiarism.
Later in the video, Pearlman admitted to confusion about the “rules of YouTube.”
“I want to say, and I’m not throwing anyone under the bus, because the people I work with are great, and the rules of YouTube is confusing. It just is,” he said.
“People take from here and there and there and there, and it’s not cool. But it’s weird, right? How do all of these podcasts run clips without getting the video footage? How do you show a baseball card without getting permission from Topps? Et cetera, et cetera, all the things you used to do when I was at a magazine or a newspaper, they don’t seem to apply here, right? My show, as much as any. I just want to say I’m not innocent here with this sh*t.”
Pearlman said he initially was frustrated that Velodus would challenge him over plagiarism when Velodus’ initial video also featured licensed Getty photos and protected newspaper clippings. One difference, noted by Velodus multiple times in his allegations, is that his 2021 video was not monetized on YouTube, whereas Pearlman’s was, and included the ad read for a sponsor.
But after watching videos on Pablo Torre’s investigative show and receiving an email from an industry colleague, Pearlman said he came to understand the point Velodus was making.
“I know it might sound obvious, and you guys might be like, ‘You’re a f*cking idiot.’ I get it,” Pearlman said.
“It’s kind of a new medium and a new thing for me, doing a YouTube show. And again, we have the rights for Getty, we have the rights for Newspapers.com, blah blah blah, but like, is it okay to use videos from other places? Everyone does it. The Pivot does it, All the Smoke does it, everyone does it. But I was thinking about this guy, like he worked his a** of on that video, and he was pissed. And I thought he made a very compelling case in his video.”
Pearlman maintained that the company that produces his videos is “great” and the team is “honest,” but acknowledged he “should have had more oversight” and “been more aware” of how the company was crafting the B-roll for his videos.
“I just kind of want to acknowledge that I’m not proud of this,” Pearlman said. “I swear to god, I would admit if I knew and I just made a stupid mistake. I didn’t realize the extent. And now that I realize the extent, I feel like it was not cool. And the show, we’ve already talked about it. We’re just going to strive to do a lot better.”
While Pearlman ultimately took the video down and acknowledged the mistake, it’s unclear why he would be so initially defensive if he knows he’s not involved in the technical production of the videos. As Velodus notes, Pearlman’s team did not merely pull the same photos, videos, and clippings as he did; they often included the same editing and alterations. Even in the world of YouTube, the obvious and clear difference between The Pivot or All the Smoke, the examples Pearlman listed, and Torre, is that Torre is a journalist, a title that Pearlman holds dear.
And while it is certainly up to Pearlman how he moves forward, it’s an interesting choice to stand behind the company now, particularly as someone who has attempted to carve a lane as an informal ombudsman of the entire journalism industry and has recently posted furious criticisms of Michael Strahan, WNBA media, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, and Jay Glazer, in addition to calling Stephen A. Smith a “moron.”
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