Oakland A's Glen Kuiper apologises after uttering racial slur in live broadcast

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Oakland As broadcaster Glen Kuiper speaks during a game.— Twitter/File
Oakland A's broadcaster Glen Kuiper speaks during a game.— Twitter/File

Oakland A's broadcaster Glen Kuiper on Saturday publicly apologised after using a racial slur during a live broadcast, which the veteran baseball commentator said was totally involuntary and accidental, CBS Sports reported.

Television announcer Glen Kuiper's tongue slipped during the team's Friday evening broadcast as he was talking about a visit to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. That doesn't leave a lot to the reader's imagination.

The gaffe occurred in the pregame part of the airing of the A's game against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. 

At the time, Kuiper said: "We had a phenomenal day today. (N-word) league museum. And Arthur Bryant's Barbeque."

"A little bit earlier in the show, I said something, didn't come out quite the way I wanted it to," Kuiper said. "I just wanted to apologise if it sounded different than I meant it to be said. I just wanted to apologise for that."

The club in a tweet later that night said: "The language used by Glen Kuiper during today’s pregame broadcast is unacceptable. The Oakland Athletics do not condone such language. We are working to address the situation."

It is not clear what fate awaits Kuiper as far as his role in the club is concerned. It must be noted that broadcasters are usually suspended and sometimes fired for such actions and the duration of the suspension or a tougher action depends on the nature and graveness of the verbal misdemeanour. 

Kuiper, 59, has been with the A's primary local TV as a telecaster for the last 17 seasons.

Oakland Athletics also known as Oakland A are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball as a member club of the American League West division. The team plays its home games at the Oakland Coliseum.