Allen defends Oliver's privacy after media disclosed son's death
Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen publicly criticized how media outlets disclosed the death of teammate Ed Oliver's 2-year-old son, saying the player and his family should have controlled when and how that information became public. Some journalists had known about the tragedy but held the story until a social media account reported it, prompting broader debate about journalistic ethics when covering deaths in athletes' families.
Josh Allen defended Ed Oliver's right to control his own family tragedy after multiple media outlets reported the death of the Bills defensive tackle's 2-year-old son, saying journalists who disclosed the information without Oliver's consent crossed an ethical line.
According to Awful Announcing, Ed Oliver's son died earlier this summer after being found unresponsive in a swimming pool. The death became public knowledge on Saturday when an account on X connected Oliver to a news report from Harris County, Texas. ESPN's Cameron Wolfe and Alaina Getzenberg then confirmed the cause of death, and the Buffalo Bills issued an official statement on Saturday acknowledging Oliver's loss.
What distinguished this case from typical death reporting was that some members of the media knew about Oliver's loss but chose to hold the story during the start of training camp and preseason, even as Oliver's absence was noted. That voluntary restraint ended when the social media account made the connection public.
Allen spoke to the media for the first time since the news broke on Friday. "First off, I want to say thank you to the ones that knew about it and allowed him to have his moment and his time," Allen said, according to reporting by Tim Graham of The Athletic. "It's very sad in how it came out. It makes me very sad and angry at the same time."
He continued, per Graham's reporting: "It's the utmost, the most important thing, and I'm very... It's very unfortunate how it came about. I appreciate those that knew and didn't want to bring it up... It's no one's place to really let that out there except him and his family's when the time came for it, but we roll now and be there for him as teammates."
The decision by some outlets to hold the story while others reported it once it became public on social media prompted examination of journalistic ethics in covering deaths in athletes' families. ESPN's Jenna Laine, who covered the death of Shaq Barrett's daughter, argued for exercising "more care, more discernment, more grace" when reporting on such losses, including consulting with colleagues who have handled similar situations and working with local law enforcement and team communications staff. Laine's framing suggests that holding news is a discretionary editorial judgment, not an obligation, and that journalists must weigh both the harm of holding information and the importance of reporting in a timely fashion. Awful Announcing noted that "there is no one-size-fits-all answer" to whether media should report such stories, acknowledging that journalistic ethics on the matter remain contested and contextual.
Josh Allen said it was 'no one's place' to disclose Ed Oliver's son's death without the family's permission, expressing frustration that media outlets reported the tragedy after a social media account first posted about it.
The debate over who controls disclosure of family tragedies in the lives of public figures remains unresolved. What the field learned from this case is whether outlets that know of such events will be more deliberate in consulting with affected families and colleagues before deciding to report, or whether the speed with which information spread on Saturday signals a shift toward faster disclosure regardless of family preference.
The score is a fact. The story gets checked.
Sources
Single-source report. As published, only awfulannouncing.com had reported this development. No independent outlet had corroborated it.
GoCheckMySports reports events. It never advises bets. Nothing here is betting or gambling advice.