A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that Bonneville International Corp. was within its rights to fire Grant Napear after he responded to DeMarcus Cousins on social media by saying “All Lives Matter” in the midst of the nationwide protests around the death of George Floyd.

Now, the former Sacramento Kings announcer might try to take his case to the Supreme Court.

The legal case stems from an incident in 2020, in the midst of protests and demonstrations against police brutality following Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer.

On May 31, DeMarcus Cousins tweeted at Napear, asking for his thoughts on the Black Lives Matter movement. Napear (who had had some notable exchanges with Cousins while he played for the Kings) responded by saying, “Hey!!!! How are you? Thought you forgot about me. Haven’t heard from you in years. ALL LIVES MATTER…EVERY SINGLE ONE!!!”

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement became the driving force of the protests and a target of right-wing critics, who started saying “All Lives Matter,” which was seen by many as a rejection of BLM’s message that Black people were not being treated as equals in American society. Pundits have pointed out that “All Lives Matter” was often deployed to sound universally positive but was actually used to downplay specific concerns raised by Black Lives Matter.

Former Kings players, including Chris Webber and Matt Barnes, reacted and shared their own commentary about Napear and the perception that he was a “clown” and “closet racist.”

Napear was placed on administrative leave and later fired from KHTK (owned by Bonneville), where he had hosted a daily show. A few days later,  he resigned from his post as the Kings’ TV play-by-play announcer, a role he’d held since 1988.

Napear filed a wrongful termination suit against Bonneville, but it was dismissed. He then appealed to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, arguing that he had been punished for political expression unrelated to his work, violating his freedom of speech.

In its ruling, the appeals court rejected his argument, saying Bonneville could take action to protect its reputation, pointing to Napear’s status as a public figure and the language in his employment contract, which required him to maintain “a high standard of care and level of responsibility” when speaking publicly, as it could affect the company’s “public image and reputation.” They also added that California law does not appear to “prevent employers from limiting employees’ political expression undertaken within the scope of their employment such that it impacts the public reputation” of the employer.

Napear’s language on Twitter (now X) “involved his celebrity persona such that his statement fell within the scope of his professional capacity.”

The former NBA announcer’s attorney, Matthew Ruggles, disputed the judges’ conclusions.

“Grant Napear actually owned that Twitter account, had published approximately 38,500 tweets before he tweeted ‘All Lives Matter…Every Single One,’ and that tweet was not made on-air, during work, or as part of any radio show,” Ruggles told The San Francisco Chronicle. “It was Grant’s personal expression, and that issue should be decided by a jury, not the court.”

Ruggles said he will seek a rehearing, but if that isn’t granted, he might ask the Supreme Court to review the case.

Napear returned to Sacramento’s airwaves last September with Fox Sports KSAC, but the show was abruptly canceled in May. Napear continues to host his “If you don’t like that with Grant Napear” podcast and said on X in June that he still stands by the message that cost him both of his jobs.