Ex-NBA announcer unapologetic after 'All Lives Matter' tweet controversy which led to dismissal

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Former Sacramento Kings play-by-play announcer Grant Napear has no regrets for the so-called controversial tweet that got him bounced from his job.

 

Napear was let go in June after causing an uproar for tweeting, “ALL LIVES MATTER…EVERY SINGLE ONE!!!” at the height of the outrage over the death of George Floyd. He was placed on administrative leave, then departed from the airwaves.

SACRAMENTO KINGS ANNOUNCER GRANT NAPEAR OUT FOLLOWING 'ALL LIVES MATTER' TWEET

“And I said ‘all lives matter, every single one’, because I meant it. Do the lives of Black people matter? Hell yeah, the lives of Black people matter,” Napear told FOX40 in an interview Wednesday.”

He added: “Do I make mistakes? Yeah, I make mistakes and if I make a mistake, I try to say that I’m sorry. But I’m not sorry for saying ‘all lives matter, every single one.’ I’m not sorry because I believe that every life is important. I’m not sorry because I believe in equality for all. I’m not sorry because I try to treat everyone, regardless of the color of their skin, the same.”

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It was Napear’s first time addressing the matter. He had told the Sacramento Bee in June he thought he was educated on the Black Lives Matter movement but the backlash proved him wrong.

On Twitter, he also wrote at the time: “If it came across as dumb I apologize. That was not my intent. That's how I was raised. It has been engrained (sic) 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!”

Napear told FOX40 he has moved to Miami temporarily and started his own podcast.

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He had been the Kings’ announcer since 1987. He also served a play-by-play announcer for the Oakland Raiders, Sacramento Mountain Lions and arena football's San Jose SaberCats throughout his career, according to the Bee. One of his signature catchphrases was “If you don’t like that, you don’t like NBA basketball.”