MLB Announcer Returns to Air Nearly 3 Years After Firing for Using Racial Slur

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Glen Kuiper in August 2022
Credit: Steve Kroner/San Francisco Chronicle via AP

NEED TO KNOW​

• Glen Kuiper has been hired by the San Francisco Giants as a fill-in radio broadcaster for the upcoming season
• Kuiper, 62, was fired in 2023 after seemingly using the "N" word twice during Oakland A's broadcasts
• Kuiper's two older brothers, Duane and Jeff, also work for the Giants

Almost three years after he was fired for seemingly using a racial slur on-air, longtime MLB announcer Glen Kuiper is getting a second chance in the broadcasting booth.

Kuiper, 62, has been hired by the San Francisco Giants to announce during the team's upcoming exhibition game, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The play-by-play announcer, who is the younger brother of Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper and Giants television producer Jeff Kuiper, will also call approximately 10 to 15 broadcasts this year during the regular season, the newspaper later reported.

At the news of a third Kuiper brother entering the fold, the franchise is defending its decision to hire the former Oakland A’s broadcaster.

“The Giants are committed to inclusion, respect and earning our fans’ trust,” Giants chief marketing officer Rachel Heit told the outlet. “We had numerous conversations about the requirements for excellence we expect from our broadcasters. Glen’s addition to the broadcast team is reflective of how he’s approached his growth and what he’s demonstrated from an accountability perspective.”

Kuiper’s dismissal from the A’s came after he seemingly used a slur in the place of the word “Negro” on a telecast in May 2023.

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Glen Kuiper
Credit: Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty

Before calling a game against the Kansas City Royals, Kuiper shared in a pregame segment on NBC Sports California that he and colleague Dallas Braden had visited the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum that day.

"We had a phenomenal day," Kuiper said at the time. "N----- League Museum and Arthur Bryant's Barbeque."

Later in the game, he apologized.

"A little bit earlier in the show, I said something, didn't come out quite the way I wanted it to," he said at the top of the sixth inning. "I just wanted to apologize if it sounded different than I meant it to be said. As I said, I just wanted to apologize for that."

About two weeks later, Kuiper was fired, USA Today reported at the time.

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According to the Chronicle, it was the second time he used the word on air. In August 2020, Kuiper said the “N” word while discussing depictions of Negro League players among the cardboard cutouts used in the stands of Oracle Park during the pandemic.

Kuiper’s first assignment for the Giants will be doing the play-by-play for the team’s exhibition game against Team USA at Scottsdale Stadium on Tuesday, March 3.

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