After hearing Oakland Athletics announcer Glen Kuiper utter a racial slur on live TV, Skip Bayless determined the incident was “no slip of the tongue.”
Earlier this month, Kuiper used a racial slur during a pregame segment on NBC Sports California. Prior to the A’s playing the Kansas City Royals on May 5, Kuiper was attempting to express what an honor it was to visit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City with broadcast partner Dallas Braden. Kuiper attempted to say, “We had a phenomenal day today, Negro League Museum and Arthur Bryant’s Barbeque,” but he mispronounced “negro” in a way that sounded like a racial slur.
On the latest episode of The Skip Bayless Show podcast, the Undisputed host addressed Kuiper’s incident, expressing disgust over how freely the racial slur was used on live television.
“Glen Kuiper used the N-word. The one ending with the hard ER. Used it matter-of-factly, routinely, as if using that slur was second nature to him,” Bayless said. “Used it without an immediate apology, without any visible awareness, he had used it.”
After using the slur during a pregame segment, Kuiper apologized in the sixth inning of the broadcast. “A little bit earlier in the show, I said something that didn’t come out quite the way I wanted it to. I just wanted to apologize if it sounded different than I meant it to be said,” Kuiper claimed. “I just wanted to apologize for that.”
Kuiper remains suspended by NBC Sports California over the incident.
Most people don’t believe Kuiper acted with malice, but there is also the belief that a person wouldn’t accidentally utter the slur on live television unless the word is in their regular vocabulary. Bayless is in that camp.
“This was no slip of the tongue,” Bayless determined. “This was no mispronouncing. He just said that word on live television as if he had used it regularly and had momentarily blanked out and forgotten he was on live TV.”
“I don’t know exactly what’s in any man’s heart. But I certainly know what came out of his mouth. And in 2023 that cannot be. To me, that word, you can’t walk back, you can’t apologize your way out of,” Bayless said. “I’m not keen on calling for another media member’s job, but man, if it were my call?”
Bayless responded to his own question with a long sigh. Although Bayless wouldn’t go so far as to say Kuiper should be fired, he also didn’t sound ready to say the Oakland A’s announcer should ever return to the broadcast booth.
