Nelson Mandela confused with Alex Rodriguez by Detroit TV station

Dec. 6 (UPI) -- During its coverage of Nelson Mandela’s death on Thursday, Detroit station WDIV 4 ran a picture of New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez alongside a graphic at the bottom of the screen reading, “Remembering Nelson Mandela.”

One astute viewer noticed that there had been a slight mistake:

Oh God… RT @Klumpp13: @awfulannouncing Yeah...that's not Nelson Mandela. pic.twitter.com/y3UNHjNNcH

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 6, 2013

And then word spread…

Hey @thedudekabides: Dumb mistake of the day.Detroit TV Station Remembers Yankee Star Nelson "A-Rod" Mandela http://t.co/5kEGABJhyy

— kathy flanigan (@katflanigan) December 6, 2013

"Wait... are you sure that's a picture of Nelson Mandela?" "Close enough." http://t.co/egNWKUxOgD

— Jim Harper (@NewsroomJim) December 6, 2013

Shameful. This news station put up a picture of A Rod instead of Mandela. http://t.co/wlDgGYz9zs

— ksamshow (@ksamshow) December 6, 2013

As if the association between Mandela and A-Rod wasn’t bizarre enough, there was also this nugget from late-night television on the Arsenio Hall show. Singer R. Kelly performed a tribute song he had apparently written for Mandela and performed for him previously during a visit to his home.