Source: MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images / Getty
Amid the outrage over an MLB announcer using the N-word live on the air in apparent and implicitly biased oblivion to what he actually said, a video surfaced on social media allegedly showing footage of the same person committing the same racist faux pas just a few years ago.
Oakland Athletics’ announcer Glen Kuiper is licking his self-inflicted racist wounds while serving an indefinite suspension for referring to the Negro Leagues as the “nigger leagues” during a telecast on Friday night.
Kuiper waited until the next day to try to convince the masses that his words “didn’t come out quite the way I wanted it to.” He asked people to accept his “sincerest apologies.”
But in the midst of it all, another video purportedly from a 2020 broadcast surfaced on social media with the person who tweeted it claiming Kuiper virtually did the same thing three years ago.
While quote-tweeting the video of Kuiper saying the N-word live on TV on Friday, a Twitter account tweeted what was alleged to be Kuiper saying the same racist slur in the same context from three seasons ago.
“I knew I wasn’t trippin’ but this was from the 2020 season,” the tweet accompanied by the video said.
While Kuiper isn’t shown on the brief clip, a voice resembling his can be heard discussing “the Negro Leagues” before he goes on to address how “some of the teams are actually wearing nigger league uniforms.” The voice continues to talk uninterrupted.
Listen for yourself below.
In case you missed it, Kuiper was on the air Friday night recounting his experience visiting earlier in the day the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, where the Athletics were playing against the Royals.
Standing beside fellow broadcaster Dallas Braden, Kuiper gushed about how the two of them “had a phenomenal day” before he gestured with his thumb up and cited the “nigger league museum” as a prime example.
Braden, apparently not noticing the racist slur being said by his broadcast partner, can be seen shaking his head in earnest while pounding his chest in agreement with Kuiper.
The president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, a Black man, similarly asked for Kuiper to be forgiven.
“I’m aware of the unfortunate slur made by Glen Kuiper,” Bob Kendrick said in a statement ion Saturday. “I welcomed Glen to the NLBM yesterday and know he was genuinely excited to be here. The word is painful and has no place in our society. And while I don’t pretend to know Glen’s heart I do know that my heart is one of forgiveness. I hope all of you will find it in yourselves to do the same!”
The Oakland A’s described Kuiper’s saying the N-word as “unacceptable,” but its actions suggested otherwise when the MLB franchise decided against outright firing him. Kuiper has worked in that same capacity for 20 seasons.
The sympathy and willingness to give Kuiper the benefit of the doubt for saying the N-word on-air stands in stark contrast to the swift firing of a white Mississippi news anchor who uttered a slang derivative of the N-word during a telecast in March.
In that instance, Barbie Bassett said, “fo’ shizzle, my nizzle,” after her co-hosts joked about a possible Snoop Dogg collaboration on the news show for NBC affiliate WLBT.
Bassett was fired behind the offense because “nizzle” is a form of the N-word.
The incident drew attention to Bassett previously making reference to a Black reporter’s “grandmammy” on-air, prompting her apology.
This is America.
SEE ALSO:
Not Fired: White Knoxville Teacher Suspended WITH Pay After Video Shows Him Using N-Word In Class
Football Player Loses Scholarship After Posting Video Of Him Using The N-Word
