Reporter Apologizes After Kim Mulkey Calls Him Out

A Los Angeles Times columnist has apologized after the star head coach for LSU's women's basketball team, Kim Mulkey, criticized his column previewing one of LSU's games. Ben Bolch painted the UCLA-LSU game as a battle between good and evil, due in part to Mulkey's status as a polarizing figure, describing UCLA as "milk and cookies" and LSU as "dirty debutantes." Mulkey minced no words in her response, saying on Saturday that the column was "sexist," "awful," and "wrong," ESPN reports. She said that as a coach, she expects to be criticized, but she wouldn't let anyone speak about 18- to 21-year-old women in that way. The Times later revised some of the wording in the column and issued its own apology.

On Monday, Bolch apologized in a lengthy statement posted on X. He said he "failed miserably" in his choice of words: "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." Meanwhile, Mulkey on Saturday also responded to questions about a controversial Washington Post profile of her, saying she hadn't read it and wasn't sure she ever would, NBC News reports. (More LSU Tigers stories.)