The Tragic Slip-up of Glen Kuiper: Apology Statement, President’s Support & NBC Sport’s Justification

Hamza Ashraf January 3, 2024

0 45 5 minutes read

The Tragic Slip-up of Glen Kuiper: Apology Statement, President’s Support & NBC Sport’s Justification

An on-air tongue slip may ruin your reputation for good. Doesn’t it? Glen Kuiper faced the same tragedy; he unfortunately uttered a racial slur that ended his career in NBC California. He served as Oakland’s athletic broadcaster for 20 years. On May 5, he was commentating alongside Dallas Braden and recalled their previous trip to Negro League’s Baseball Museum.

He was commenting on their time there but mistakenly uttered the N-word. It caused quite an uproar among the media, team, and viewers. The team considered it unacceptable and pledged to take action against it. Although, at the start of 6^th innings he apologized but wasn’t forgiven. He was temporarily suspended but NBC California officially removed him. Despite Bob Kendrick and Dave Stewart’s support, he was still not forgiven.

The team has issued a statement saying many factors led to Kuiper’s suspension and are confidential. Here we will delve deeper into what happened during the pregame, Glen Kuiper racial slur, his apology, the president’s support, and the league’s dismissal statement.

Table of Contents

What Glen Kuiper Said During Pregame?

Glen is the commentator who initiated his career in 2006 and for almost two decades never ceased to entertain viewers. But his one on-air blunder caused the downfall of his career.

On Friday’s NBC California Sports Baseball Match against Kanas City Royal, he was commenting beside Dallas Braden. He tried to recall the time the two commentators spent together but got a tongue slip. Hie uttered a racial slur which got highlighted and caused quite a scene. He called the team with the N-word which everyone found unacceptable and put Glen under heat.

Glen Kuiper’s Apology

Right after the blunder Glen had, he released an apology statement at the beginning of the 6^th inning of the match against the Kansas City Royals. He cleared it as he was badly mispronounced and it came out wrong. He had no intention to target someone on the base of race.

He added while apologizing:

“I could not be more sorry and horrified by what I said,” He further added by saying, “I hope you will accept my sincerest apologies. A little bit earlier in the show, I said something, that didn’t come out quite the way I wanted it to and I just wanted to apologize if it sounded different than I meant it to be said. I just wanted to apologize for that.”
Glen Kuiper

How Bob Kendrick Supported Glen Kuiper?

Regardless of all the backlash Glen Kuiper faced, he still got some support, and that too from none other than Bob Kendrick. He is the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum president.

He supported him by saying he forgave him and even encouraged others to have a big heart and follow his gesture. He officially released a statement:

“I’m aware of the unfortunate slur made by Glen Kuiper,” Kendrick said on May 6. “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 all you find it in yourselves to do the same!”
Bob Kendrick

Did you think his forgiveness was illogical and should be condemned? Or are you in the favor that Glen should have been given a chance?

How NBC California Justified Glen Kuiper’s Dismissal?

NBC California issued an official statement on May 22^nd, 2023 where it said that Glen was dismissed from his designation because of multiple reasons. However, the reasons haven’t been revealed yet. It said the reasons against him piled up and they had to finally make a decision. It makes us suspicious about Glen’s conduct during his services which never sees the light. The statement is:

“According to a source with knowledge of the situation, Glen Kuiper’s departure was based on a variety of factors, including information uncovered in the internal review.”
NBC California

Glen Kuiper Statement After Dismissal

After the official removal by NBC Sports, Glen released a statement where he justified his unintended tongue slip and told what he planned to do ahead.

His official statement was,

“Monday morning, I was informed by an NBC executive that after a 20-year broadcasting career with the Oakland Athletics, my contract was terminated, effective immediately. The termination was due to the unintentional use of an offensive word on air during the May 5 pregame show.

On that day, I chose to spend my personal time by educating myself and learning more about MLB’s history by going to the Negro League Museum. I spent nearly three hours there in an effort to better understand and more deeply appreciate the difficulties and social barriers African American players endured in MLB’s early years. When the subject of the museum visit came up in the pregame show, I was excited and eager to share what I had done and seen that day. In my excitement, I rushed the word “negro” resulting in my very unfortunate mispronunciation. I sincerely apologize to everyone who was hurt by this. It 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. I appreciate the Negro League Museum president Bob Kendrick and Oakland A’s great Dave Stewart’s public support of me in light of this. I am an honest, caring, kind, honorable, respectful husband and father who would never utter a disparaging word about anybody. Those who know me best know this about me.

I wish the Oakland A’s and NBC Sports would have taken into consideration my 20-year career, my solid reputation, integrity, and character, but in this current environment traits like integrity and character are no longer considered. I 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.

I love the game of baseball and I love being a broadcaster, and I love the Bay Area community. I hope I will be remembered for that. Thank you to all my family, friends, and great A’s fans who have shown their support.

Sincerely,
Glen Kuiper

His hearty note impacted the audience but still didn’t get him back to the booth, which may sound sad, but that’s how justice is served. He is still certain he was treated ill and his career and services should be considered.

Bottom-line

Concluding why Glen Kuiper was dismissed from the NBC Sports team, he was the commentator who had a racial slur while he was on-air. All the world heard what he said and he got under the heat. The team considered his blunder unacceptable. Although the president of Negro League Baseball Museum he got no leniency from either the team members of NBC California. He apologized but didn’t help him in any manner.

Give it a good read to tell us what you think of Glen’s terrible mistake and what are your thoughts on it.