Months after losing two jobs over a Twitter exchange with former Kings’ big man Boogie Cousins, Grant Napear is getting his voice back out there. The former Sacramento Kings’ television play-by-play man has launched a podcast called If You Don’t Like That.
“The one thing that has bothered me more than anything over the last three months is that I did not get a chance to speak to all of the fans, all of the people of Northern California, and those that have picked up on my career through hosting as a fill-in on ‘The Jim Rome Show,'” Napear said on the show’s debut episode. “And to those people who have been waiting for me to speak, I’m going to speak now and you’re going to hear what I have to say.”
Napear bemoaned cancel culture and hit on some familiar talking points about social initiatives driving fans away from sports. He also noted that he has been around the country in the last few months and has had conversations average fans that drive those points home.
“Now I’ve always said this. I said if you start bringing politics and social issues into sports, you’re going to lose a lot of fans. You’re going to lose a lot of fans. And there is no question in my mind the ratings have reflected that with the NBA. We saw the opening weekend of the National Football League. Fans are saying they don’t want it anymore.”
Grant Napear was terminated by both the Kings and by Bonneville’s KHTK in May after tweeting the phrase “ALL LIVES MATTER” in response to a question from Cousins about how he felt about the Black Lives Matter movement. “The social media exchange followed a weekend of unrest across the United States after George Floyd died during an encounter with Minneapolis police,” writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.
It doesn’t seem to be the tweet itself though that was the source of Napear’s demise. Former Kings joined Cousins in expressing a lack of surprise that that would be Napear’s reaction, with Matt Barnes going so far as to call the team’s play-by-play man for the previous 32 seasons “a closet racist.”
Napear said on the first episode of If You Don’t Like That that he is confident that controversies like the one surrounding him have no place in sports. He says it “pains” him to see leagues and athletes embracing politics.
“I know what I believe in. I believe that the fans of America have spoken, and I firmly believe they do not want political and social statements made at their games. I’ve talked to too many people. I’ve talked to too many people that have handed in their basketball tickets. I’ve talked to too many people who have said they are not going to any more games.”
