Charlotte Hornets Announcer Suspended for Allegedly Mistakenly Using 'N-Word' in Now-Deleted Tweet

Nick Kangadis | August 19, 2020
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People make mistakes. Some are dumber than others, but they’re mistakes all the same. Now when you make a mistake that could have easily been avoided, that’s completely on you. I’m torn on this story, but that’s why I report these things. I write it up, you guys decide.

While in his first year as the play-by-play announcer for the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets, John Focke has been suspended indefinitely for tweeting out the “N-word” while attempting to exhibit his excitement about the “shot making” during the Utah Jazz's playoff matchup with the Denver Nuggets.

“Shot making in this Jazz-N*****s game is awesome!” Focke wrote in the now-deleted tweet from Monday evening. “[Jamal] Murray and [Donovan] Mitchell going back and forth what a game!”

Within hours of the tweet, Focke deleted it and issued an apology on his Twitter account:

The following morning the Charlotte Hornets Public Relations Department sent out a tweet informing the public that Focke has been “suspended indefinitely as we investigate the matter more closely.”

Look, did the dude make a mistake? From all accounts it’s probable. Where I have a problem is with Focke’s lack of checking what he wrote before posting the offending tweet.

How many “cancelations” of people for social media “mistakes” is it going to take for people to be more careful and think for a second before posting anything to social media? Sure, grammatical errors happen. But to simply post something the second you finish typing is irresponsible for yourself and ignorant towards the perils of the internet.

H/T: Fox News

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