May 28, 2017: Takuma Sato, center, of Japan, celebrates after winning the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis. (AP)
A longtime sportswriter no longer works at the Denver Post after being criticized about a controversial tweet about the winner of Sunday’s Indianapolis 500.
“Nothing specifically personal, but I am very uncomfortable with a Japanese driver winning the Indianapolis 500 during Memorial Day weekend,” tweeted Terry Frei after Takuma Sato became the first Japanese driver to win the prestigious race.
Frei later took the tweet down and apologized, but not before a screenshot was taken and spread across the internet.
The newspaper tweeted its own apology Sunday.
“The Denver post apologizes for a tweet sent by one of our reporters, Terry Frei, that does not reflect the standards and values of our organization,” read the statement. “We are treating this as a personnel issue and have no further comment at this time.”
On Monday morning, the Post said Frei no longer works for the newspaper. It’s unclear if he was fired or resigned.
“We apologize for the disrespectful and unacceptable tweet that was sent by one of our reporters. Terry Frei is no longer an employee of The Denver Post. It’s our policy not to comment further on personnel issues.” said publisher Mac Tully and editor Lee Ann Colacioppo in a statement on the Post’s website. “The tweet doesn’t represent what we believe nor what we stand for. We hope you will accept our profound apologies.”