Fox News may have hit on a problem as it looked to report on Donald Trump’s decision to disinvite the Philadelphia Eagles from a White House visit “because he insists that they proudly stand for the National Anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country.” The hitch being that none of the Eagles’ players knelt for the anthem last season (some players did stage other protests such as raising fists).

In search of striking images, Fox used pictures of Eagles players taking a knee on the field suggesting they had knelt for the anthem. Those players were not protesting at racial injustice though: they were praying as players across the league have done before games for years. Eagles tight end Zach Ertz, who is a committed Christian, tweeted his displeasure at Fox on Tuesday: “This can’t be serious.... Praying before games with my teammates, well before the anthem, is being used for your propaganda?! Just sad, I feel like you guys should have to be better than this.”

Christopher Wallace, executive producer of Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream, later apologized for what he described as an “error”. “During our report about President Trump canceling the Philadelphia Eagles’ trip to the White House to celebrate their Super Bowl win, we showed unrelated footage of players kneeling in prayer,” said Wallace in a statement. “To clarify, no members of the team knelt in protest during the national anthem throughout regular or post-season last year. We apologize for the error.”

Trump’s announcement came after a number of players had said they planned to shun the White House visit. Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie reportedly did not want to put his staff in an uncomfortable position over whether to meet the president or not and ultimately decided to send a small contingent to the White House. Had the visit gone forward, fewer than 10 players were expected to attend, according to the NFL Network.

Trump’s decision was met with displeasure by athletes across America. Torrey Smith, who played for the Eagles last season, pointed out that punishing the team as a whole was unfair: “There are a lot of people on the team that have plenty of different views,” he wrote on Twitter. “The men and women that wanted to go should’ve been able to go. It’s a cowardly act to cancel the celebration because the majority of the people don’t want to see you. To make it about the anthem is foolish.”

Last year Trump withdrew the NBA champion Golden State Warriors’ invitation to the White House after their players said they would not attend. The Warriors are playing the Cleveland Cavaliers in this year’s NBA finals and neither team appear to be inclined to visit the White House if they win the championship. “I know no matter who wins this series, no one wants to go anyway,” Cavaliers star LeBron James told reporters on Tuesday. The Warriors’ Stephen Curry took the same line: “I agree with Bron,” he said. “Pretty sure the way we handled things last year, we’d stay consistent with that.”