04/19/24
May 06, 2023
That's Not the Name of the Negro League Museum: In a pregame segment Friday in Kansas City, longtime Oakland A's play-by-play man Glen Kuiper wanted to tell people about his great visit to the Negro League Baseball Museum in the city. But he called it something else entirely. He's apologized and been suspended. Museum president Bob Kendrick had this reaction: "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 you will find it in yourselves to do the same!"
I don't even know anything about Kuiper inside the booth, but I agree with your synopsis, rcade. Even people who are paid to talk make the occasional slip of the tongue, and that is a plausible explanation here. If there isn't evidence of a pattern, there are a lot of better reasons to cancel someone.
posted by bender at 09:14 PM on May 07, 2023
Yeah, this is nothing but a slip of the tongue. Obviously, I don't know Kuiper personally, but the dude has been in the business a loooonnnggg time without incident. And let's be realistic, if he was a man prone to using that word on a regular basis, it would likely have become known somewhere along the way.
posted by tahoemoj at 05:55 PM on May 08, 2023
Social media is full of hot sports opinions certain that he meant it.
I don't know anything about Kuiper outside of the booth, but I'm having trouble reconciling the idea that someone could visit that museum and be glowing about the experience while also being the kind of person who drops N bombs.
The A's should investigate whether he uses inflammatory racial language in off-air conversations and other communications. If he doesn't, let him off the hook. If he does, give him the hook.