Hornets Fire Broadcaster For Mistakenly Tweeting N-Word

The Hornets have fired broadcaster John Focke, who mistakenly tweeted the n-word when meaning to refer to the Denver Nuggets.

BYCole Blake
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Streeter Lecka / Getty Images

The Charlotte Hornets announced that radio broadcaster John Focke, who used mistakenly typed the n-word on social media when referring to the Denver Nuggets, will not be returning to the team.

Streeter Lecka / Getty Images

"The Charlotte Hornets announced today that John Focke will not return as the team’s radio broadcaster due to a violation of the organization's social media policy," The Hornets wrote in a statement. "Since this is a personnel matter, the organization will not comment any further. The Hornets thank John for all his efforts during the 2019-20 NBA season."

Focke has repeatedly claimed that his typing of the n-word was a typo, possibly done as the "I" and "U" key are next to each other, as are the "R" and the "T" key. 

Focke explained the mistake saying, "I made a horrific error while attempting to tweet about the Denver-Utah game. I don't know how I mistyped. I had (and have) no intention of ever using that word. I take full responsibility for my actions. I have been sick to my stomach about it every [sic] since. I'm truly sorry that this happened and I apologize to those I offended."

Focke has previously covered the Timberwolves and WNBA's Minnesota Lynx.

[Via]


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About The Author
Cole Blake is currently an Editor at HotNewHipHop based out of Brooklyn, New York. He began working at the site as an intern back in 2018 while studying journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s graduated with a bachelor's degree and written extensively about a wide range of topics including pop culture, film & television, politics, video games, sports, and much more. He’s also covered music festivals such as Gov. Ball and Rolling Loud. You can find him publishing work for HNHH from Monday to Wednesday or on weekends. On the sports front, Cole’s a passionate NBA and NFL fan with his favorite teams being the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Lakers. He also roots for the Yankees whenever he finds himself at Yankee Stadium or the Red Storm when in the company of other SJU alumni. His favorite hip-hop artists are billy woods, Earl Sweatshirt, Cam’ron, MIKE, and Mach-Hommy.