TMZ Sports got a quote from the Inquirer about Marcus Hayes, following the suspension Joel Embiid received for Saturday night’s shove of the century:

(Embiid’s) actions resulted in a three-game ban … which was handed down on Tuesday.

As for Hayes, we’re told everything will remain the same.

“No change,” Evan Benn, the Inquirer’s Senior Director of Special Projects & Communications, said of Hayes’ status.

“He is an Inquirer columnist who covers Philadelphia sports teams, including the Sixers.”

It would be one thing if Keith Pompey or Gina Mizell got into it with Embiid. They’re the Inquirer’s beat writers and they’re at pretty much every practice and every game.  Marcus is a columnist who writes about all topics, and bounces around from the Eagles to the Sixers and Phillies on a seasonal basis. As such, the risk of a repeat situation is relatively low. In the case of a one-sport beat writer, the relationship might be strained to the point where action is required, but that’s not the case here.

It bears repeating that Marcus did apologize for the original lede in the column that started this whole thing. The paragraphs about Embiid’s son and deceased brother were replaced. Whether that’s sufficient recourse is for Inquirer readers and Sixers fans to decide. There are people out there saying Hayes should never cover the Sixers again, calling for that action to come from the Inquirer, the Sixers organization, or both. There’s a general thought of, “okay, Embiid was punished, is there any accountability for Hayes?” That’s litigated in the court of public opinion.