An award-winning California news reporter faced backlash for her “insensitive” comments towards Bosnia-Herzegovina during her World Cup coverage, forcing her to apologize for taking the joke “too far.”
ABC7 Los Angeles’ Abigail Velez was covering the US national team’s match at a viewing party on the streets of Long Beach, Calif., Thursday, when she updated viewers on America’s next opponent after the 3-2 loss to Turkey.
“The next round, Team USA will play Bosnia next Wednesday and one thing about Bosnia, I could not point out where it is on a map,” Velez quipped. “I don’t know the first thing about Bosnia and I don’t want to know because Team USA, we’re back, we’re better than ever.”
Velez, who has been with the station since November 2025, doubled down and told the southeastern European nation to get ready for battle against the US.
“That’s next Wednesday. Get prepared, Bosnia, because you don’t want it, you don’t want it like that, but you’re gonna get it. That’s next Wednesday,” she said before tossing the report back to the station.
Bosnian fans were quick to call out Velez for the report.
“My goodness, the stereotypes write themselves……” X account Bosnian Football wrote, alongside a clip of Velez’s report.
“Some competitive talk is always fun, but that’s not the way to do it,” another user wrote.
“The weirdest things about Americans is that they feel it’s like a flex to say “I don’t even know where they are on a map,” a third said.
Velez apologized on Saturday for “poor effort to have a little fun,” explaining the segment was supposed to be a light-hearted report that got out of hand.
“In 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,” Velez wrote on X. “I apologize to the people of Bosnia and the Bosnian Football team.
“The World Cup is supposed to be about uniting communities around the world, and my comment didn’t reflect that spirit,” she added. “Wishing all the teams the very best as they continue their World Cup journey.”
USMNT and Bosnia-Herzegovina will meet at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.
The US finished group play 2-0-1, finishing on top of the Group D table with 6 points and earning the group’s number one spot.
Bosnia finished third in Group B play with four points after going 1-1-1, but qualified for the knock-out round after being one of the best third-place teams.
