Just about anything can happen when you’re walking down Bourbon Street in New Orleans, and ESPN learned that the hard way Monday night,
The network gave its viewers more than just a scenic shot of the famed NOLA street during a commercial break, as an ESPN camera operator caught a woman flashing her right breast toward a balcony above her.
“We regret that this happened and apologize that the video aired in the telecast,” an ESPN spokesman told The Associated Press.
While the network didn’t catch the sight before they aired it to a national television audience, viewers quickly caught it and took to social media to voice their disbelief.
The exposed breast aired for roughly a second and it appeared the woman had been hoping to obtain beads from an onlooker above.
The reactions ranged from uncontrollable laughter to using the moment to take shots at some of the personalities that regularly appear on the network.
“ESPN casually broadcasting boobs to start the year,” one user on X wrote, accompanied by a crying laughing emoji.
“Nice job on the commercial break getting the boob flash ESPN…. lol,” another person wrote.
“Aaaaand ESPN just broadcast to millions of people a woman on Bourbon St showing her boobs for beads,” a third person wrote.
“My timeline is talking about seeing boobs on ESPN like putting boobs on television hasn’t been their business model since they first hired Skip Bayless,” a person joked about the now-FS1 host.
It’s unclear if the footage had been live or was taped b-roll footage that had aired during the game or how much scrutiny was given to the footage before it aired.
The Sugar Bowl matchup, which saw Washington hold off Texas 37-31, was being held in New Orleans at the Superdome on Monday night.
Washington punched its ticket to the national title game next Monday in Houston against the Michigan Wolverines.