“On Wednesday, Spears filed a defamation suit against The Times that included new details about the incident. Based on that information, editors assigned further reporting, which determined that the other person at the scene was not Spears but Cooper Lee, a student manager for the team. The Times regrets the error in the initial report.”

The New York Times · said date not stated · reported 2026-08-21

The editor's note stated that further reporting after Spears's lawsuit determined the person at the scene was actually Cooper Lee, a student manager, not Spears.