Sacramento Kings announcer Grant Napear out following 'All Lives Matter' tweet

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By David Aaro | Fox News




Sacramento Kings play-by-play announcer Grant Napear, who called games for the NBA team since 1988, resigned Tuesday following comments he made regarding the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Grant Napear has resigned from the Sacramento Kings,” the team said, according to the Sacramento Bee. “We thank him for his contributions to the team and wish him all the best.”

“I want to thank the fans for their overwhelming love and support,” Napear added in a statement. “I will always remain a part of Kings nation in my heart.”

On Sunday evening, Napear responded on Twitter after former Kings star DeMarcus Cousins asked him to comment on the Black Lives Matter movement in wake of the May 25 death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis.

"Hey!!!! How are you? Thought you forgot about me. Haven't heard from you in years. ALL LIVES MATTER...EVERY SINGLE ONE!!!," Napear responded.

The "Black Lives Matter" movement grew from concerns about police brutality in America, particularly against African-Americans and other minorities. Its supporters have frequently criticized the "All Lives Matter" reaction, saying it represents an attempt to obscure or invalidate the Black Lives Matter message.

Meanwhile, Bonneville Sacramento, operator of sports talk radio station KHTK, announced that it and Napear had "parted ways," meaning the popular sports talk show Napear hosted would be ending as well. Napear was previously placed on administrative leave by the station and its parent company, before the relationship ended Tuesday, according to KHTK post on Twitter.

Following his original comments, Napear had issued an apology to the Bee on Monday.

“I’m not as educated on BLM as I thought I was,” Napear said. “I had no idea that when I said ‘All Lives Matter’ that it was counter to what BLM was trying to get across.”

He also issued his own apology on Twitter.

"If it came across as dumb I apologize. That was not my intent," Napear said. "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!"

Napear reportedly got into some hot water earlier in his career when he defended disgraced former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and argued Sterling couldn’t be labeled a racist because he employed black people.

He also served a play-by-play announcer for the Oakland Raiders, Sacramento Mountain Lions and arena football's San Jose SaberCats throughout his career, according to the Bee. One of his famed catchphrases was “If you don’t like that, you don’t like NBA basketball.”

[Griffin]

I think I get it now. It's OK for them to say their life is more important than mine but not OK for me to correct them.

[Godfather]

I think I get it now. It's OK for them to say their life is more important than mine but not OK for me to correct them.

I don't believe that's what the BLM movement is saying.

I personally feel 'All Lives Matter' is a pretty detestable movement. Of course 'all lives matter', but 'All Lives Matter' (capital ALM) exists only as an intentional counter-movement to diminish BLM. ALM intentionally misses the point BLM is trying to make by boiling it down to an misrepresentation of the title. BLM was not born as some a some black supremacy movement to say black lives should or do matter more than anyone else - which is how ALM acts. BLM is trying to make a point that they feel treated as if their lives don't matter compared to others. They're asking to be treated as if black lives actually do matter, because they feel like second class citizens. I'm sure the loudest members in the ALM crowd knows this too, so I personally think ALM is playing a disingenuous game.

Whether or not you agree with someone protesting for BLM's theories of who/what/why/how/where black people are repressed in soceity, and you can certainly disagree with some of BLM's recent tactics - I still see no need to counter-protest with this 'ALM' stuff. It's a semantical game, it's certainly not constructive, and it seems kind of pathetic. I hadn't recently heard a peep from ALM until George Floyd which I think speaks volumes.

That said... I disagree with anyone fired for retweeting. Cancel culture is a sickness too.

[lost in melb.]