Glen Kuiper, the primary play-by-play broadcaster for the Oakland Athletics, has been fired after an internal review emerged when he uttered a racial slur on-air.
“After an internal review, it has been decided that NBC Sports California is ending its relationship with Glen Kuiper effective immediately. network said in a statement on Monday. “We thank Glen for his dedication to Bay Area baseball over the years.”
On a May 5 baseball broadcast before the Oakland A’s faced the Kansas City Royals, Kuiper spoke about his trip to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. But instead he called it the “N****r League Museum.”
(A video clip of the uncensored slur incident is below.)
“I said something a little earlier in the show, it didn’t come out the way I wanted it to,” said Kuiper later on the air. “I just wanted to apologize if it sounded different than I intended.”
The next day, Kuiper said he “couldn’t be more sorry and horrified for what I said.”
The A’s said at the time that Kuiper’s language was “unacceptable.” NBC Sports California Kuiper suspended indefinitely right after the comment and said the network would conduct an internal review.
“This decision was based on several factors, including information uncovered in the internal review,” said a person familiar with the investigation. told The Athletic and associated press. Neither outlet reported what that new information was specifically.
The 60-year-old announcer had been calling the A’s games for 20 years. He is also the younger brother of former MLB player and San Francisco Giants announcer Duane Kuiper.