The way Grant Napear’s career was canceled in Sacramento still stinks years later | Opinion

Roughly 18 months after it was filed, the lawsuit brought by former broadcaster Grant Napear against the parent company of the King’s flagship radio station is all that remains from what was an enduring career in Sacramento that ended in the worst possible way.

The lawsuit is a sad waste of human emotions, an avoidable conflict that resulted in litigation because litigation is what happens when people get canceled. Last week, a federal judge ruled that Napear’s case could proceed on the grounds of retaliation.

Napear was canceled in May of 2020 after sarcastically answering a tweet from former Kings star DeMarcus Cousins, who had asked Napear what he thought of Black Lives Matter.

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Napear responded with a tweet that ended with the words: “ALL LIVES MATTER...EVERY SINGLE ONE.”

That was it.

Napear didn’t use the N-word, which is why former A’s broadcaster Glen Kuiper was fired earlier this year. Napear wasn’t caught making a homophobic slur on the air, which was what ended the career of former Cincinnati Reds broadcaster Thom Brennaman in 2020. Napear didn’t curse at a colleague in public, which is what led to the termination of ESPN baseball writer Marly Rivera earlier this year.

Napear’s 32 years as a Kings broadcaster and 26 years as a talk show host on Sactown Sports 1140, the Kings flagship station, ended because he tweeted: “ALL LIVES MATTER...EVERY SINGLE ONE.”

These words in and of themselves were far less explicit than those spoken by other broadcasters who were not canceled as Napear was. A literal reading of the words is that every life is important. Why would Napear get canceled for that?

Because the timing of Napear’s tweet couldn’t have been worse and because enough people believe he meant something racist and malevolent.

Napear got into it with his Cousins on Twitter at the precise moment that Sacramento’s streets were roiling with demonstrations protesting the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police. The Black Lives Matter movement started a decade ago in response to the killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner and other Black people by cops or wanna-be cops

It’s a righteous movement because police brutality against Black people – as well as other underrepresented groups such as Latinos – is a scourge in our country. Another scourge is the people who seek to invalidate Black Lives Matters activists in a variety of ways, including by saying the words: “All Lives Matter.”

The list of conservative offenders who play this game is long and includes Donald Trump. But other famous non-conservatives have gotten in trouble for using the phrase, including former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton, pop star Jennifer Lopez, and actress and singer Christina Milian.

Clinton used the phrase in 2015 at a Black church in Missouri as she recounted a story about what kept her mother going after she was abandoned as a young person by her family. “Her answer was very simple. Kindness along the way from someone who believed she mattered. All lives matter,” Clinton said.

She quickly faced a backlash on social media as she campaigned for the presidency.

Lopez deleted a tweet in 2016 that included #AllLivesMatter. Milian also used the phrase in a tweet and quickly apologized after experiencing the fury of Twitter justice.

“When some people rejoin with ‘All Lives Matter’ they misunderstand the problem, but not because their message is untrue,” UC Berkeley professor Judith Butler said to the New York Times in 2015. “It is true that all lives matter, but it is equally true that not all lives are understood to matter which is precisely why it is most important to name the lives that have not mattered, and are struggling to matter in the way they deserve.”

Clinton was given the chance to proclaim her support for Black Lives Matter and did, as did Milian.

“I must not be up to date with the hashtags,” Milian tweeted in 2016. “And more for praying & conversation. There’s no debate here. #BlackLivesMatter I stand by that.”

Napear too said he wasn’t up with the hashtags either. But he never got a chance to apologize, which he meant to do on the air. He lives in virtual exile now, living part of the year outside the United States.

Does this punishment fit his crime? No way.

The day after his tweet, when trouble was clearly brewing for him, he called me. I explained the context of “all lives matter” and Napear acted like a person who had no idea that three simple words were so fraught.

Do I have absolute proof of what was in Napear’s mind and heart when he sent his fateful tweet? I don’t. But neither does anyone else. Meanwhile, the former first lady, U.S. senator and the first woman nominated to run for president by a major political party was no more informed about the perilous context of “all lives matter” than Napear. Neither was Jennifer Lopez, a global superstar. Neither was Christina Milian, who has 1.4 million Twitter followers.

None of them got canceled. Napear did.

It’s true that Napear has many detractors, including Cousins and other former Kings such as Matt Barnes and Chris Webber. After his fateful tweet, Barnes responded by tweeting that he would expect nothing less from “closet racists.” Whatever history Barnes has with Napear is between them.

However, Napear was not canceled because of his relationship with Barnes, Webber or Cousins.

He was canceled because of what people thought he meant in a tweet.

Some have suggested Napear was canceled because the tweet was the last straw after upsetting enough of the right people with his combative style as a talk show host. It’s possible but it’s also unlikely we’ll ever know if that’s true. All we know is that Napear lost his livelihood for a tweet that was tone-deaf and dumb.

Napear also should have known better given previous public statements by Vivek Ranadivé, the King’s majority owner.

In March of 2018, Ranadivé took center court after a Kings game to express condolences to the family of Stephon Clark, who was shot to death by Sacramento Police.

“On behalf of the players, the executives, ownership and the entire Kings family, first of all, we wanted to express our deepest sympathies to the family. What happened was absolutely horrific, and we are so very sorry for your loss,” said Ranadivé as he was flanked by Kings players.

Also in 2018, the Kings partnered with Black Lives Matter in Sacramento and other groups to support youth programs.

Given this context, Napear really stepped in it with his tweet. But the situation could have been handled in any number of other ways

Napear could have been allowed to apologize and meet with Black Lives Matter representatives who could have educated him about why what he tweeted was wrong. He could have been allowed to transition into another role that could have bought him time to find other employment, instead of being banished as a pariah.

In 2019, 49ers broadcaster Tim Ryan was suspended after he said on the air that Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who is Black, was able to avoid 49ers tacklers because of his skin color. “He’s really good at that fake, Lamar Jackson,” Ryan said, “but when you consider his dark skin color with a dark football with a dark uniform, you could not see that thing.”

One could argue that Ryan’s comment was far more problematic than Napear’s. Ryan apologized sincerely, was briefly suspended, and kept his job. In 2014, 49ers broadcaster Ted Robinson was suspended for making terribly insensitive comments about the wife of an NFL player who had been abused by her husband.

Robinson sincerely apologized, his career was not canceled and the 49ers eventually transitioned to a new broadcaster.

Any kind of forgiveness was rejected in Napear’s case. All that’s left is the litigation.