NBC Atlanta anchor tags The Athletic columnist Jeff Duncan instead of Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan

There have been a lot of cases of mistaken identity in the sports world over the years, including identification errors on broadcasts, in print, online, on apps, and especially on Twitter. Twitter in particular has a long history of yelling at the wrong person who just happens to have a similar name. But that gets even more notable when it’s an authority figure or a media figure or outlet tagging the wrong person, and the latter was the case with what NBC Atlanta (WXIA, 11 Alive) anchor Cheryl Preheim tweeted Thursday. She mistakenly attributed comments from Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan (seen at right above) to Jeff Duncan (seen at left above), a columnist for The Athletic New Orleans:

And Duncan responded as you might expect:

<sigh>…. https://t.co/rdacToQibF

— Jeff Duncan (@JeffDuncan_) January 7, 2021

This wasn’t even the first mistag he received Thursday:

“WrongTraitorToDemocracy https://t.co/ph3ldUYyPI

— Jeff Duncan (@JeffDuncan_) January 7, 2021

To her credit, Preheim later apologized, and tried again with the right tag:

thank you. my apologies – tweeted again w/ correct tag.

— Cheryl Preheim (@CherylPreheim) January 7, 2021

Georgia's Lt. Gov @GeoffDuncanGA
tells #11Alive Pres. Trump false claims of election fraud cost GOP Sen Loeffler & Perdue runoff election.

Worth noting, right after Nov election, Duncan, publicly defended GA's election as fair and secure.

*correcting tag on previous tweet* https://t.co/kV64CPoV9f

— Cheryl Preheim (@CherylPreheim) January 7, 2021

Still, it’s notable to see an actual news anchor get this kind of Twitter identification wrong, and to see them get this wrong for people whose names are even spelled differently.

[Jeff Duncan on Twitter]