Grant Napear is no longer with the Sacramento Kings. Napear had been the Kings’ play-by-play announcer on local television broadcasts (currently carried on NBC Sports California) since 1988, in addition to hosting a radio show on 1140 KHTK, but he was placed on administrative leave by KHTK Monday following a contentious Twitter exchange with former Kings’ player DeMarcus Cousins Sunday night (which also led to Napear not appearing on his normal show Monday). And the Kings announced Tuesday afternoon that Napear has resigned from his role with them, as relayed by Jason Jones, the Kings’ beat writer for The Athletic:
From the Sacramento Kings:
“Grant Napear has resigned from the Sacramento Kings. We thank him for his contributions to the team and wish him all the best.”— Jason Jones (@mr_jasonjones) June 2, 2020
KHTK also announced on air that Napear had been fired:
Sports 1140 KHTK (Bonneville International) announce that Grant Napear has been fired. Read just now by program director Jason Ross.
— Sean Cunningham (@SeanCunningham) June 2, 2020
What led to this? Well, it started with the exchange with Cousins Sunday, where Cousins asked Napear for his thoughts on Black Lives Matter and Napear (who had had some notable exchanges with Cousins while the latter played for the Kings) responded with an “All lives matter” tweet:
Hey!!!! How are you? Thought you forgot about me. Haven't heard from you in years. ALL LIVES MATTER…EVERY SINGLE ONE!!! https://t.co/DfzKl3w0jm
— Grant Napear (@GrantNapearshow) June 1, 2020
As former Kings player Andre Miller noted, “All lives matter” carries a lot of baggage, as it’s been a line used by many to try and downplay specific concerns raised by Black Lives Matter:
“All lives matter” is the go-to response from racist individuals when they’re asked about #BLM. How could you be so tone-deaf to not know that? Even if it wasn’t your intent to be racist, it was an incredibly dumb thing to say.
— Andre Miller (@AndreMiller916) June 1, 2020
And Napear’s “If I came across as dumb, I apologize” response didn’t exactly help him much:
If it came across as dumb I apologize. That was not my intent. That's how I was raised. It has been engrained in me since I can remember. I've been doing more listening than talking the past few days. I believe the past few days will change this country for the better! https://t.co/Gsh84BPBEk
— Grant Napear (@GrantNapearshow) June 1, 2020
It’s notable that this also led to further criticism of Napear by former Kings Chris Webber (now a TNT analyst), Matt Barnes, and Cousins, including pointing out some questionable comments he’s made in the past (including a 2018 defense of former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling):
https://twitter.com/realchriswebber/status/1267452141448368128
Would expect nothing less from a closet racists
— Matt Barnes (@Matt_Barnes22) June 1, 2020
This came after a NBC Sports California statement Monday, too:
“Our company values and honors inclusion and equality. Racism, injustice and violence run counter to everything we stand for and cannot be tolerated in our society. Grant Napear’s recent comments on Twitter do not reflect the views of NBC Sports California. We’ve spoken to Grant’s employer, the Sacramento Kings, about the matter.”
So in less than 48 hours, Napear has resigned from his Kings’ job and lost his radio station job over comments on Twitter towards a former Kings’ player. That’s remarkable to see.
[Photo via Bleacher Report]
