In the wake of nationwide protests following the on-camera killing of George Floyd, former Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins asked Kings play-by-play announcer Grant Napear for his thoughts on Black Lives Matter. Napear’s response was “All Lives Matter”:
Hey!!!! How are you? Thought you forgot about me. Haven't heard from you in years. ALL LIVES MATTER…EVERY SINGLE ONE!!! https://t.co/DfzKl3w0jm
— Grant Napear (@GrantNapearshow) June 1, 2020
This sparked a backlash from former players, beginning with DeMarcus Cousins, but then Chris Webber and Matt Barnes also chimed in:
Lol as expected.
— DeMarcus Cousins (@boogiecousins) June 1, 2020
Demarcus we know and have known who grant is. The team knows as well. I’ve told them many times. They’ve seen it. They know who he is. ???????? https://t.co/4DI4f1DGUp
— Chris Webber (@realchriswebber) June 1, 2020
Would expect nothing less from a closet racists
— Matt Barnes (@Matt_Barnes22) June 1, 2020
Grant added addition tweets to clarify his position, but they only served to increase the backlash against him. As of this morning, Napear apologized on Twitter:
If it came across as dumb I apologize. That was not my intent. 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! https://t.co/Gsh84BPBEk
— Grant Napear (@GrantNapearshow) June 1, 2020
We will continue to keep an eye on this story to see if anything develops further.
UPDATE 2:00 PM:
Grant Napear spoke with the Sacramento Bee’s Marcos Breton and apologized for his words.
I’m not as educated on BLM as I thought I was, Napear said to me. I had no idea that when I said All Lives Matter’ that it was counter to what BLM was trying to get across.
Napear was emotional on the phone and was sincere.
I’m in pain, he said. I’m 60 years old and I still have a lot learn.
Napear also says he will apologize publicly on his KHTK radio show later today.
UPDATE 3:03 PM:
KHTK announces radio host and Kings play-by-play announcer Grant Napear "has been placed on administrative leave while we are investigating the statement that was made on twitter."
— Jason Anderson (@JandersonSacBee) June 1, 2020
And Aaron throwing gas on the fire
Solid broadcaster. Out of touch individual.
Spencer’s finest moment. Not that there a lot of great one’s to choose from, but still.
An easy way out of this, Grant, is to say Black lives matter. It’s better than the apology you offered!
Literally could’ve just replied with “Black Lives Matter.” Instead he has 20 tweets trying to justify “All Lives Matter.”
he’s not going to do that. as he was ‘raised’ to parrot racist counter slogans.
#FireGrantNapier
He was given the softest of soft ball questions by Demarcus and he couldn’t even help himself in the face of the greatest time of mass uprising and protest since the Civil Rights Movement. That’s how you know it runs deep for Grant.
Grant is sooooooffft
Top tier trolling by Cousins, knowing Grant would tell on himself
Absolutely genius!
Boogie threw that bait out there and Grant ate it all up and then some. That was so incredibly easy for Grant to show his true colors.
I take back all those horrible things I’ve said abt DMC over the years (at least for today).
Boogie was a fun player to watch. Grant is a great broadcaster, but I’ve soured on how rude he is to fans who call in to his show and how literally he ties the company line, even when the team makes awful decisions.
America needs more Jerry Reynolds, that’s what I know.
How loyally he tows*
*toes
This.
Can we de-age Jerry? I mean I’m pretty sure we can. With all the crazy shit going on in 2020, I’m pretty certain scientists would soon unveil a time machine.
Is there a Benjamin button we can press?
Curse you and take my upvote. Go away.
Forgot one…
“Trust me” = “the next few words to follow are bullshit.
LOL. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has more black acquaintances than white. But I think we’d need to survey those acquaintances to see if they consider Grant a friend.
“OH BOY!”
At the end of the clip, is that a Freudian slip by Grant putting up his hand to parry any possible kiss from DeMarcus?
I know its a short clip but DMC doesnt even look Grants way
“NO KISS FOR YOU!”
I would be very surprised. He lives in a very white area (EDH), and he used to attend a white church in Elk Grove (and presumably attends another white church, if he goes at all).
Oh, I don’t doubt he infrequently interacts with people of color in his free time. But in his professional life?
He might believe all the players are his friends.
The token black friend
I can’t believe he actually pulled out the “But, I have black friends” cliche in earnest. That alone displays exactly how culturally oblivious he is.
“Some of my best color analysts are black!”
So I’m confused here. Grant is many things but I don’t see the controversy here. Grant only said ALL lives matter. Doesn’t thst also include black lives too? Why is this a controversy?
You aren’t confused. Either you’re being disingenuous or you’re being obtuse. Either way, I’d advise other posters to consider your past statements and consider if this deserves earnest responses.
I’m pretty sure I know what his two usernames were at the old site. I’d suggest downvoting him and moving on.
What were they?! Besides me of course.
Wow, really… those are his only options: being obtuse or disingenuous? Some people like myself (in the past) needed to be educated on the difference of the 2 slogans and its meaning. For a time, I didn’t know saying All Lives Matter in response to BLM was a negative until I educated myself on the topic. Not everyone has bad intentions. But from the rest of your post, it sounds like Nem_Business has had a ‘history’ of stoking controversy, so definitely not defending him here, Or Grant for that matter. From Grant’s tweet, it definitely felt like he knew what he was saying and knew the responses it would illicit. So I have no sympathy for ppl like him.
But I am curious to know, what does Grant mean when he says: “That’s how I was raised. It has been engrained in me since I can remember.” I don’t know him and don’t listen to his radio show. But if it means what I interpret it to mean, then I think he’s done.
Because not ALL LIVES are being oppressed. Not ALL LIVES are being taken by racist cops.
Hope that helps.
It’s really not very hard. It’s only hard if you’re trying to make it more difficult.
Uhh, but statistics say otherwise..
https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-death-by-us-police-by-race/
Read my statement again:
The statistics you point to show that all races get killed by cops, which we all already knew. That has nothing to do with my statement.
Do you believe there are black racist cops killing innocent white people because of their skin color?
Otherwise, I don’t see where you are finding a problem with my statement.
Another thing you need to consider when looking at statistics is how many people are in each category.
Your chart only shows the number of people in each race that were shot by cops in these years. Do you know what percentage of the US population those groups make up? There are not the same amount of white people as black people in the US, obviously.
White people made up 76.5% of the population in 2019, while black people made up 13.4%. So, how do your numbers look in that context?
it’s classic stormfront misinformation and statistics abuse. They do it on purpose. He’s not doing this on accident.
If there’s anything I can appreciate about former StR commenters/current TKH commenters is their ability to argue. I’m really glad that the consensus here is so heavily in favor of BLM, it warms my heart.
Me too.
I see your point. I found another chart that broke down the data per capita of the population:
3
yawn, stormfront misuse of stats is back again.
Yeah that’s not how statistics work. If the data isn’t proportional based on the population size of each subset then it’s irrelevant. But I suspect you already knew that.
Heh, I thought I’d get the -5 first .. No stabbie for you 😉
I do like this topic as breaking news for KingsHerald .. THUMBS UP!
You have the advantage of being open to earnest engagement, a positive contributor to this community, and one to approach discussion/debate in good faith. As far as I can tell, at least.
NB, i’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and reply in the hopes that you are being earnest and if even if you aren’t, perhaps someone else will see this who might be willing to learn. “All Lives Matter” is something people say when they don’t want to admit that black people are treated any differently than they are. It’s a way to deny that systematic racism exists.
It goes without saying that most sane people know and understand that “All Lives” should matter. Saying #BlackLivesMatter doesn’t mean you don’t matter, it’s an acknowledgement that black people have never been treated like they do.
Thank you very much.
Being from Europe, as I asume NB is too, it´s impossible to understand BLM/ALM without this explanation.
To make things even worse ALM would have been my exact answer, not knowing what it means in this context. And I was phrasing the same question as NB about being confused.
Grant 100% absolutely knew how ALM came about. That’s why his saying this is such an affront – he knew he was parroting a white supremacy slogan.
#FireGrantNapier
Even if he really didn´t know and I asume he knows. – in his job, he has to know and to be aware of.
I just tried to explane that, for me being a non-US- American, it´s quite hard to understand the phrasing and meaning.
absolutely – as a non-American, there’s little way for you to know the difference, but Grant works in an industry that is full of conversation on the subject, so he’s guaranteed to know.
Bradley, what do you think about reaching out to Grant to come on your podcast?
Wait, never mind I don’t really care what he has to say anymore. How about Jason Jones to speak about all of this?
Or Kimani Okearah? I’d love to hear him on the podcast.
POP! Talk about coming in hot.
Pop always has excellent things to say about situations like this, and he doesn’t pull punches. Which makes it even better.
I’ve said it before, but I am so, so tired of Grant Napear.
1. It’s not a real apology if you say IF it came across as dumb because it means he doesn’t really believe it does and is putting it on how people are interpreting it, not what he said.
2. He posted that last night, not this morning. He is choosing to be incredibly silent this morning and not address everyone speaking out about it
Quick, Grant, get to the bunker!
Bunker!
Thank you–I totally agree about point #1. (classic Non-apology)
Also:
Who is he listening to? (Is Doug Christie softballing things to him?)
If Grant still hasn’t admitted “yes, black lives do matter–I understand the statement now” after doing ‘more listening than talking’, then it’s time to just ignore him completely.
Yeah, that’s the key point. Anybody who is still coming back with “b-b-b-but all lives matter” is deliberately, willfully not listening.
Grant isnt the only one who is silent today…
One of the most important things I’ve learned from the book of How To Stay Married, is to never, EVER say….
“I’m sorry that you feel that way.”
Greg loaned me a book and now I’m divorced.
I’m sorry you feel I’m to blame for your marriage
Yep. It is a blatant attempt to placate while abdicating personal responsibility.
I’m sorry you feel that way.
I’m guessing KHTK and the Kings have told him to STFU for a bit because when he speaks on this subject he puts his foot in his mouth. This is also why I think KHTK has put him on leave. It’s to take his mic away he doesn’t completely kill any credibility he has left.
If he has a history of this, then he needs to take a permanent hike.
Looks like The Bee jumped on board….
https://www.sacbee.com/sports/nba/sacramento-kings/article243165711.html
I’d say this calls for a statement from Vivek and the Kings on their employee Grant Napear’s views. Kudos to the Bee!
And yet, nary a negative word about Cousins while he was here. Spineless.
Which leads to the question, if Grant were to be fired by the Kings, would he immediately start talking shit about himself and defending the Kings’ decision?
He would immediately call the Maloofs and ask them if he could be the PBP guy for the Vegas Golden Knights.
His dream of calling hockey would finally be true!
“Welcome to H-E-double hockey sticks”
Please no. God no. Please Lord no.
Ay ay ay. I’m glad I’m not a part of this discussion on Twitter. Or anywhere else for that matter.
Dave…I know you’re reading this….the clock might be ticking on your guy….
One would hope Dave is smart enough to know this does not bode well for Grant and not chime in on this.
Dave did retweet the bee article about grants “apology” but I guess friends will support friends.
https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article243173241.html
The Bee weights in…
I really wish I could tune into the radio show today.
I predict 3 hours of Grant patronizing the audience to save his job.
And 4x call screening.
I refuse to believe Grant is this dense. He knows what he’s saying. I’m not going to miss him, replace his ass now.
#FireGrantNapear
It really is a shitty defense he raises. Are we really supposed to believe that a guy who’s active on social media, and/or even just around NBA players & staff is supposed to not know the background of the ALM idiocy?
Yeah, his response is nonsense. He knew what he was saying and its connotations.
Napear now on administrative leave. Deservedly so.
really? wow!
He certainly earned it. I absolutely cannot believe that a person in position, as visible as he is, didn’t know exactly what he was doing.
To think that DMC might out-smart Peaches into getting himself fired is just….
In the end, Boogie and the basement bloggers Grant hates so much may just get the last laugh.
Karma, Pe-atch!
Sooooo… since there’s nothing else going on…. apparently, Fox is feuding with Bagley’s dad? So that’s… well… Kangzy.
Is it on twitter? Is it about “Fox taking the ball out of Bagley’s hand?”
Hmm.. time for me to learn how to embed a tweet.
Hold please.
So much for chemistry, Vlade!
Huh, well here’s a link
Thanks, BHE!
I couldn’t figure out who called who a clown here. Not that it matters all that much, but just curious what the context is.
I’m not well read in the instafacechats but it looks like fox called bagleys dad a clown for talking trash to/about him (fox).
Thanks, G-Naps. That’s what I thought, but I don’t know how this stuff works. I wonder if this indicates some chemistry issues on the team. I’m 100% taking Fox’s side on this. He seems far more mature in his early 20’s than Bagley’s dad is in his 40’s or whatever.
I like that no matter how badly we think a Kings draft pick might turn out it’s usually worse than we can imagine. How funny would it be if this ended with Bagley being gone and Fox wanting out? That’s Kangz style right there.
That’s not remotely funny at all, actually.
Can we just stop all the drama or just press an “undo” button to go back to 2018 NBA Draft night ?
NBA commissioner had given us a chance, and we completely wasted it, and now, the consequence is all Kings players want out……
But it is Kangz style, amirite?
At this point most everything involving the Kings basketball product and operations makes me laugh. I’ve given up hope for any sense of competence.
Kings fans laughing at the Kings:
The rest of the world watching us:
At least we’ll have friends (real or imaginary).
Kings have released a statement:
ALL TWEETS MATTER
Damn, NBC Sports California/Bay Area releasing a statement too:
That statement does not sound good for peaches
Can the Peaches.
Silly. This team has no business venturing into politics.
All lives matter is a general, conservative comment, not particularly racist at all
the team has no business censuring someone for middle of the road conservative views
And as a non progressive white male, the fact that the team is involving itself in social issues just means alienating itself from me, as much as some of you feel that way about Napear
Sports is for getting away from politics. Teams have no business involving themselves in certain sides of the political spectrum
This situation is a lot of things, but silly is not one of them. And while ALM may be inoffensive to you, it is wholly offensive to those that saw ALM created as a direct response to BLM, and it was seemingly created solely to demean the BLM movement.
My guess is that it’s not the Kings’ political involvement that’s eating at you here. It’s their point of view.
Nice to know what was clearly made to mock BLM is ‘middle of the road’ conservatism in a nutshell. Since the extreme end supports genocide I guess you have a point.
One thing we’re sure of is that the answer isn’t hiding in a bunker and turning the lights out.
I’ve got some bad news for you. The sports have no business in politics ship has sailed. The ship has sailed for two important reasons.
The first is that people of color keep getting murdered by the police. If you can’t see the inherent wrongness and inhumanity of what is happening I would recommend looking deep within yourself to examine why you are ok with the senseless deaths of innocent people and the stripping of dignity of a portion of the America’s population.
The second is because Donald Trump made a conscious decision to actively engage professional leagues and athletes on social issues in the most unproductive way possible. By attacking them. He wanted to pick a fight with the sports community over players kneeling or speaking out when young people of color are murdered with no repercussions. Well now there’s a real fight and he’s so clearly out of his depth I’m legitimately worried that he’ll start executing protestors in the street.
Here’s another fun fact. I’m not a progressive white male. I’m generally more conservative on a lot of economic issues. I’m a pastor at one of the largest church’s in the Bay Area. The Kings stance on social justice issues makes me MORE likely to support them in the future. Do you want to know why? Because what is happening in this country should have NOTHING to do with your politics. The sight of innocent people murdered on camera shouldn’t be a right or left issue. It’s about good versus evil. What happened to George Floyd was evil. Systemic evil. 400 years worth of subjugation for black Americans kind of evil.
Grant doesn’t like DeMarcus Cousins and he decided to really stick it to him when he said All Lives Matter. He knew exactly what he was doing and that was trying to hurt a black person during a time of great pain for people of color. That is a despicable thing to do. It is racist. It isn’t a conservative thing to say. It’s a racist thing to say.
Great answer, ForKingsandCountry.
I know it’s super long but I have simply lost my patience with nonsense like the original post. I used to ignore and move on but I think that time has passed for me personally.
Seriously, I just roll my eyes at this point.
Dude the league is like 80% black. And these issues affect many of its players. So if you don’t like it, perhaps you should follow Ice Fishing or Bird Watching. Errr.. scrap the latter.
Bass Fishing and Nascar are probably more his speed.
Quote:
To my understanding:
Black Lives Matter is a recognition that unarmed black people have been repeatedly killed by police and that this is not right.
“All Lives Matter” is pretending that we’re all treated the same, effectively denying the above is true.
To a person who has seen the videos of George Floyd, LaQuan McDonald, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, Tamir Rice or Stephon Clark and dozens (hundreds?) of others not caught on video, and thinks that could easily be them, this is dehumanizing.
I’m not going to argue that this isn’t a middle of the road conservative position. I just wish our “society,” such as it is, could agree on the basic humanity of our neighbors, fellow citizens and other human beings. It seems clear to me that the value of a life, whether it’s an old person who might get COVID, an immigrant kid in a detention facility or an unarmed black man killed by police, is a political decision and not a moral imperative.
Jesus, it’s like their outing themselves out one by one.
Sports isn’t for getting away from politics. Not sure where you dreamed that up. It’s been intertwined with politics for centuries.
It would have been nice if you left your bad opinions at the old site. And an opinion really, really doesn’t get worse than “shut up and dribble” at this moment in time.
It’s so weird that the play by play guy of all people manages to be so polarizing. Like your whole job is to be the guy that doesn’t provide color commentary.
Also, what are the chances that Grant resigns/gets fired over this? This specific thing doesn’t appear like it’s a fireable offense, but I don’t see how the kings can claim to support BLM while employing a guy that is being accused of being a closet racist by former black players.
I don’t know. Vivek wants desperately to be seen as progressive on social issues. If the person that interfaces the most and directly with fans on behalf of the org does not reflect that … maybe he will decide to replace that person.
They obviously need to do something. My gut says he’ll write a check to BLM and host activists on his show to turn this into a “teachable moment”. But these are unprecedented times, so who knows.
Dude’s a cockroach, he’ll probably find a way to survive and torment us for many years to come.
Probably true. I used to be so dumbfounded that the Kings would allow one of their employees to tell Kings fans to stop being fans because he disagreed with their opinion. Then one day I just realized Vivek tolerates it because Grant is just saying what Vivek is thinking. This is a obviously a bit different, but I still think Grant survives. He hasn’t technically said anything that’s overtly racist.
To be clear, when someone says “all lives matter”, “I have black friends”, “but Donald Sterling hired a black coach and GM”, and “I believe in standing for the national anthem” then I think it’s very easy to infer that, at the very least, the man has a very antiquated understanding of race relations in this country. I’m just not sure if that’s considered a fireable offense these days for a man of Grant’s stature.
Coded language is so effective because of how easy it is to have some level of plausible deniability regarding your true intent. All lives may matter to Grant, but he wouldn’t treat people the way he does if he truly believed all lives matter equally.
Some folks perspective on this:
Good stuff. They seem to be more bullish than I am. A couple of things I thought it were interesting:
Thanks for sharing this!
pun intended? bravo.
Grant makes it to Sports Illustrated
“Put it in the book and send him to the (unemployment) line!”
“Turn the sprinkers systems on, Grant Napear is FIRED!”
Holy shit, this should be upvoted more.
So, will Napear at the very least be furloughed by the Kings, like many of their other fulltime employees?
How hollow does Vivek’s recent statement sound if he let’s this slide?
I’d guess he won’t get furloughed. But depending on how much blow back the king’s get from this he may be let go.
And one doesn’t have to dig too deep to find a pattern in grants behavior.
But remember Grant is a genuine individual and all his co-workers have nothing but nice things to say about him.
See Barling, Damien
Dude is on a twitter warpath right now. I followed him and like all his tweets that i see
I just read his take on Marcos’ Breton’s Bee Op-Ed. Perfectly stated.
Wow. Just completely dropped the ball. Three words Grant. Black lives matter. It’s the truth unless you don’t believe it, then fuck you.
Man I’ve even met Grant and exchanged conversation for a bit. That CWebb tweet tho. So much story there. I dread learning about past injustices to players and staff of this team that we love that were racially motivated. Say it folks, Black Lives Matter.
And Carmichael Dave is taking the day off this AM…
That’s probably the best thing for CD to do right now actually.
Did Dave make comments on the situation as well?
Only thing I saw on his Twitter was basically that he’s staying quiet about this. While I respect Dave’s loyalty to Grant, the guy has a family to support. This isn’t the sword he should be falling on.
I think he said the best thing for him to do is to stay silent and listen. Given his relationship with Grant I can understand why.
Grant is out, just announced on KHTK
Yep, gone from both Kings and KHTK.
The Kings wished him well….and that was it.
Such a shame. Who’s going to be there to scream at callers and hang up on them in the afternoon now?
Anyone celebrating Grant leaving disgusts me.
Promote J Ross across the board! Give him the 3pm on KHTK, and the play by play!
Kangz1960 from the old site here, finally found my way over.
I always thought Grant was like this, but was smart enough to know when to stay quiet, as he frequently did over the years. DeMarcus exposed him. If he had any chance of surviving this, it evaporated after his pathetic effort to explain his understanding of All Lives Matter while refusing to acknowledge Black Lives Matter.
I also think that Kings management was waiting for an opportunity to be rid of him, and he finally provided it.
Badge Legend