Hornets Fire Broadcaster John Focke for Tweeting Racial Slur

The Charlotte Hornets announced they fired radio broadcaster John Focke after he tweeted the N-word during an NBA playoff game between the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz. 

The Charlotte Observer's Rick Bonnell reported Focke used the racist slur in place of Denver's nickname in a since-deleted tweet. Focke issued an apology at the time, calling it a "horrific error":

He denied in an interview with the Observer's Scott Fowler that his phone's autocorrect was to blame:

"I was trying to get it done as fast as I could, so that it was relevant by the time I posted it. I tried to type it and obviously I mistyped the word 'Nuggets.' And I did not reread it — which, as you know, that's rule No. 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 'Send.'"

Focke joined the Hornets in April 2019. He had previously worked with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx on WNBA games. Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve issued a statement supporting him:

Focke had been suspended indefinitely by the Hornets while they investigated the matter.