The Charlotte Hornets radio broadcast from TV broadcaster John Focke was suspended indefinitely by the team after a tweet Monday about the Denver Nuggets that did not include the word “Nuggets”, but a very different word.
Here’s a screencap of his tweet, via Reddit.
This is … well, that’s not good. I’m not going to speculate on Focke’s intent, but typo or not, it’s just not acceptable.
The Hornets, one of the uninvited teams in the NBA’s Orlando bubble, quickly released a statement, suspending Focke indefinitely, via the Charlotte Observer.
“The Charlotte Hornets are aware of the recent social media post from radio broadcaster John Focke. As an organization, we don’t condone this kind of language, “the Hornets statement said via Twitter.
“John has been suspended indefinitely as we look into the matter more closely.”
Focke apologized (to those he offended) Monday night.
– John Focke (@JWFOCKE) August 18, 2020
Last season was Focke’s first year with the Hornets after a run in Minnesota with the Timberwolves and Lynx.
I’m not going to judge Focke’s intentions or dive into the nuances of autocorrect, but he should have detected the typo and corrected it. The fact that he didn’t, regardless of intentions, really left the Hornets no choice but to do something, and an indefinite suspension (regardless of whether or not he won’t call the Hornets games for a while anyway) seems right before they take. a more final decision.
To update: Focke spoke to Scott Fowler about The Charlotte Observer Tuesday and explained his side of the story:
Focke was using an iPhone to send this tweet. Look at your screen. The “u” is next to the “i”. The “t” is next to the “r”. The other five letters of those two words are the same.
This does not excuse Focke’s mistake. Far from it. Focke made a mess and he knows it. Beyond his suspension, the Hornets have not commented. He understands that he deserves it, and what else could come. But Focke wants to explain himself.
“I was trying to do it as fast as possible,” Focke said of the tweet in our interview on Tuesday, “so that it was relevant at the time I posted it. I tried typing it and of course I misspelled the word” Nuggets. “And I haven’t reread it – which, as you know, is rule # 1 of working in the media. And unfortunately I didn’t, because I was trying to get it up as fast as possible. And I hit” Submit. “
… “I’m gutted,” Focke said. “I just feel terrible.”
[Reddit, Charlotte Observer]
