News/Commentary

WHOOPS! MLB announcer yanked after dropping mother of all racial slurs on hot mic

May 7, 2023 | | Print Article

It was just another day at the ballpark for a longtime Major League Baseball announcer until an unfortunate slip of the tongue and a potentially career-ending gaffe of uttering the mother of all racial slurs going out over a hot mic during a live television broadcast.

During the pregame segment of Friday’s American League matchup between the visiting Oakland Athletics and the hometown Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium, Glen Kuiper who has called A’s games for 20 years was regaling viewers of his visit to a local landmark when he effectively pulled the pin on a grenade and dropped it at his own feet by flubbing his delivery and saying the dreaded “N-word” on-air.

Kuiper was talking about a trip to Kansas City’s Negro Leagues Baseball Museum with network colleague and A’s analyst Dallas Braden when he may have inadvertently turned in his retirement notice with a brutal mistake that he would later apologize for but not until his employer issued a cryptic statement that doesn’t bode well for his future.

“We had a phenomenal day today. N***er league museum and Arthur Bryant’s Barbeque,” he stated.

Caution: Disturbing Content

Later in the broadcast, Kuiper apologized as the sixth inning action began without getting into specifics of his verbal blunder, one which if not for social media, may have not gotten the attention that it did being as it was during the pregame commentary.

“Welcome back to Kauffman Stadium. I just want to … a little bit earlier in the show, I said something, didn´t come out quite the way I wanted it to,” he 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.”

The Oakland Athletics called remark “unacceptable” in a statement posted to Twitter.

“The language used by Glen Kuiper during today’s pregame broadcast is unacceptable. The Oakland Athletics do not condone such language. We are working to address the situation,” the statement read.

Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum issued the following statement:

‘I’m aware of the unfortunate slur made by Glen Kuiper. 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!” Kendrick wrote.

Kuiper was yanked from Saturday’s telecast of the A’s-Royals game but has not been officially fired, at least not yet.

“According to an NBC Sports California spokesperson, Glen Kuiper has been suspended and will be off the air until a review of Friday’s incident is completed,” tweeted Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Twitter reacted to the unforced error as Kuiper’s career was hung in the balance like a long, lazy flyball to right center field.

The A’s won Friday’s contest 12-8 to improve to a horrific 7-26 on the season.

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Chris Donaldson
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