{"id":901178,"date":"2026-06-29T16:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/901178\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T16:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:49:12","slug":"la-reporter-releases-statement-after-insensitive-world-cup-video-and-it-might-be-awkward-in-the-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/901178\/","title":{"rendered":"LA reporter releases statement after ‘insensitive’ World Cup video \u2014 and it might be awkward in the office"},"content":{"rendered":"

An ABC7 Los Angeles reporter has apologized after her \u201cinsensitive\u201d World Cup remarks about Bosnia went viral \u2014 with the fallout taking an awkward twist<\/a> after Bosnia\u2019s national team pointed out that ABC News President Almin Karamehmedovic is Bosnian.<\/p>\n

In an Instagram post, Abigail V\u00e9lez wrote, \u201cIn a poor effort to have a little fun with World Cup competition, I took it too far and made a thoughtless comment on air that was insensitive and inappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

An ABC7 Los Angeles reporter has apologized after her \u201cinsensitive\u201d World Cup remarks about Bosnia went viral. Bosnian Football, \/X<\/p>\n

She followed up with an apology to both the people of Bosnia and the Bosnian Football Team.<\/p>\n

Abigail V\u00e9lez was presenting ABC7 Eyewitness News from a World Cup watch party in Long Beach on Thursday, where the U.S. had just lost 3-2 to Turkey.<\/p>\n

Abigail V\u00e9lez was presenting ABC7 Eyewitness News from a World Cup watch party in Long Beach on Thursday when she dropped the insensitive comments. FIFA via Getty Images<\/p>\n

While previewing Team USA\u2019s upcoming World Cup match against Bosnia-Herzegovina, she launched into a spirited defense of the Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing about Bosnia, I could not point out where it is on a map,\u201d V\u00e9lez said.<\/p>\n

She continued: \u201cI don\u2019t know the first thing about Bosnia and I don\u2019t want to know because Team USA, we\u2019re back, we\u2019re better than ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet prepared Bosnia, because you don\u2019t want it like that, but you\u2019re gonna get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almin Karamehmedovic is from Sarajevo and was appointed president of ABC News in 2024. Getty Images for Empire State Realty Trust<\/p>\n

The comments quickly drew a response from Bosnia-Herzegovina\u2019s national football team, which is competing in its second-ever men\u2019s World Cup as an independent nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goodness, the stereotypes write themselves\u2026\u201d the team\u2019s official X account posted in a message that has since been viewed more than 11 million times.<\/p>\n

The team doubled down in the comments, pointing out that ABC News President Almin Karamehmedovic is Bosnian before adding: \u201cThe worst part is the confidence that she said this with!\u201d<\/p>\n

They later shared her apology as an update to its original post, with the controversy splitting social media users. Instagram\/@abc7abigail<\/p>\n

They later shared her apology as an update to its original post, with the controversy splitting social media users.<\/p>\n

Some dismissed V\u00e9lez\u2019s remarks as harmless sports banter, while others blasted them as ignorant and insensitive.<\/p>\n

Some dismissed V\u00e9lez\u2019s remarks as harmless sports banter, while others blasted them as ignorant and insensitive. FIFA via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe World Cup is supposed to be about uniting communities around the world, and my comment didn\u2019t reflect that spirit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWishing all the teams the very best as they continue their World Cup journey,\u201d her statement concluded.<\/p>\n

Almin Karamehmedovic is from Sarajevo and was appointed president of ABC News in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cI approach this role with great respect and humility, not only for the hundreds of colleagues around the world whose tireless contributions fuel ABC News\u2019 unwavering and unbiased reporting, but also for the viewers we serve,\u201d Karamehmedovic said at the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An ABC7 Los Angeles reporter has apologized after her \u201cinsensitive\u201d World Cup remarks about Bosnia went viral \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":901179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[10509,354038,291963,364937,1582,276,2961,224,5337,5248,345,1154,5631,21490],"class_list":["post-901178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-abc-news","tag-apologies","tag-bosnia-herzegovina","tag-bosnia-herzegovina-soccer","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-metro","tag-social-media","tag-us-news","tag-viral-videos","tag-world-cup"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116834426333176174","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}