An announcer has allegedly been fired after a hot mic caught him using racial slurs directed towards the members of the Norman girls basketball team as they kneeled for the national anthem on Thursday night before their game against Midwest City.
According to The Oklahoman, the announcer was initially identified by multiple sources as Scott Sapulpa, former coach for Hulbert, a Class A School in Northeastern Oklahoma. Conflicting reports emerged Friday afternoon on social media about his involvement, and it was later determined that Matt Rowan, another announcer, made the racist remarks. Rowan confirmed it in a statement, saying “I’ve not only embarrassed and disappointed myself, but I’ve embarrassed and disappointed my family and my friends.”
As the national anthem is playing, members of the Norman girls basketball team can be seen kneeling. In response to this, The announcer can be heard on the broadcast saying, “They’re kneeling? (Expletive) (racial slur). I hope Norman get their ass kicked. (Expletive) them. I hope they lose…”
Sapulpa Public Schools released a statement on Friday condemning the remarks and pointing the announcer was not an employee at Sapulpa Public Schools.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister made the following remarks on Friday regarding the comments:
“The remarks made were sickening and vile. It is critical on all of us to be clear that racism has no place in society and must never be tolerated, especially in our public schools. My heart aches for the young female athletes who were subjected to this hateful and disgusting tirade.”
The NHFS Network, for whom Rowan was broadcasting, has also publicly released a statement, saying they are “sickened by the comments” and “outraged that they found their way into the production.” The statement emailed to Sapulpa Times say Rowan’s comments “in no way represent our network.”
“We are aggressively investigating the incident and have immediately cut ties with the third-party production crew that was involved” the statement said.
