The San Francisco Giants have had an offseason full of puzzling decisions, but none so baffling as this one: Glen Kuiper is returning to the booth to do radio broadcasts.<\/p>\n
The lesser of the three broadcasting Kuiper brothers (13 years younger than Duane, five years younger than producer Jeff), Glen Kuiper was the primary play-by-play man for the Oakland Athletics from 2006-2023. He was suspended in May 2023 after using a racial slur while describing a trip to the Negro Leagues Museum.<\/p>\n
Two weeks later, NBC Sports California concluded their investigation and chose to fire Kuiper. Kuiper responded with a statement expressing his dismay: \u201cI will always have a hard time understanding how one mistake in a 20-year broadcasting career is cause for termination, but I know something better is in my future.\u201d<\/p>\n
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However, it wasn\u2019t even the first time Kuiper had accidentally said the n-word on the air. Because he also made the same slip of the tongue in 2020 while describing the Negro Leagues.<\/p>\n
At the time, Negro Leagues Museum president Bob Kendrick said he forgave Kuiper, while former A\u2019s pitcher Dave Stewart also stood up for him. In his statement, Kuiper said, \u201cIt was a terrible but honest mispronunciation, and I take full responsibility. Please know racism is in no way a part of me; it never has been, and it never will be.\u201d<\/p>\n
But regardless of what Kuiper has inside of him, it seems like he has a big problem with accidentally saying the n-word. That alone is a reason to keep him off the air! As Tim Kawakami succinctly put it, it\u2019s an issue of competence.<\/p>\n
In addition, NBC California\u2019s investigation of Kuiper also revealed \u201cseveral emails\u201d<\/a> that violated the employee code of conduct. So it wasn\u2019t just the two on-air racial slurs that led to his dismissal. People may credit Kuiper\u2019s dismissal to \u201ccancel culture\u201d but it seems to more accurately have been \u201cfired for cause culture.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n