Oakland Athletics television broadcaster Glen Kuiper was fired on Monday by NBC Sports California after using an apparent racial slur during a pregame segment earlier this month.
Kuiper, 60, the Athletics’ lead play-by-play announcer for the past 20 years, was dismissed following a comment that aired on a May 5 pregame segment as Oakland prepared to face the Kansas City Royals on May 5, The Mercury News reported.
NBC Sports California announced Kuiper’s firing in a statement on Monday.
“Following an internal review, the decision has been made for NBC Sports California to end its relationship with Glen Kuiper, effective immediately,” the statement said. “We thank Glen for his dedication to Bay Area baseball over the years.”
The Mercury News, quoting a source “with knowledge of the situation,” said the decision to fire Kuiper was based on a variety of factors, including information uncovered in the internal review.
The source did not elaborate.
On May 5, Kuiper was chatting about his day in Kansas City, Missouri, and spoke about his visit to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. While talking about his visit with colleague Dallas Braden, Kuiper seemed to mispronounce the word “negro,” making it sound like a slur, according to The Associated Press.
Kuiper apologized before the start of the sixth inning, ESPN reported.
“A little earlier in the show, I said something (that) didn’t come out quite the way I wanted it to,” Kuiper said. “And I just wanted to apologize if it sounded different than I meant it to be said. And like I said, I just wanted to apologize for that.”
Kuiper also apologized in a statement the next day, KNTV reported.
“I could not be more sorry and horrified by what I said. I hope you will accept my sincerest apologies,” he said.
Bob Kendrick, the president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, told The Mercury News on Monday that he was disappointed about Kuiper’s dismissal.
“I was hoping it would not come to that because in my heart it was a mistake,” Kendrick told the newspaper by telephone. “Was it a very sensitive mistake? Of course it was. But it was just that: a mistake.”
Athletics manager Mark Kotsay told reporters that the decision was not made by the team.
“I can’t imagine being in his shoes right now,” Kotsay said. “I think personally, we missed an opportunity here maybe to use this as an educational platform. But as you said, I don’t make decisions and this isn’t a decision I was involved in and nor was the organization really. This was a decision made by NBC.”
Kuiper is the younger brother of former Cleveland Indians and San Francisco Giants player Duane Kuiper, The Associated Press reported. Duane Kuiper calls Giants games on television and radio.
Glen Kuiper has been replaced on an interim basis by team radio broadcasters Vince Cotroneo and Johnny Doskow, The Washington Post reported.