Announcer Caught on Open Mic Using Racial Slur at Basketball Game

“Tell us how you really feel?” Mr. Parks wrote. “This is why they kneel.”

The announcer, Matt Rowan, apologized in a statement to The Frontier, a nonprofit news organization that covers Oklahoma. The organization described Mr. Rowan as the owner of a streaming service that broadcast the game.

The website for Mr. Rowan’s company, OSPN, appeared to have been taken down as of Saturday morning. Mr. Rowan did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday.

In his statement, Mr. Rowan, who described himself as a married father of two children who goes to a Baptist church, said he had Type 1 diabetes.

“I have not only embarrassed and disappointed myself, I have embarrassed and disappointed my family and my friends,” he said. “During the game my sugar was spiking. While not excusing my remarks, it is not unusual when my sugar spikes that I become disoriented and often say things that are not appropriate as well as hurtful.”

Mr. Rowan said that had it not been for his sugar spiking, “I do not believe that I would have made such horrible statements.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/13/us/norman-oklahoma-announcer-matt-rowan.html