Oakland Athletics announcer Glen Kuiper was the source of a controversial moment on the team's broadcast ahead of a game against the Kansas City Royals, appearing to utter a racial slur prior to the first pitch. Glen Kuiper has since apologized, and now Dallas Braden, who was in the booth for the game as well, has released a statement on Twitter, claiming that his silence on the issue has been misrepresenting.
“At the time of the incident, I was not aware that anything in the broadcast was amiss,” Dallas Braden said in his statement. “The nuances of live television mean that sometimes we, as broadcasters, miss some of what you, our audience, see and hear. We have producers speaking in our ears about what is next, we are formulating our words to articulate our thoughts, we are moving direction from camera to camera, we are waiting for cues, we are checking sound. We have lots going on that is now always visible to our audience. In that moment, I missed the live comment, and I was not aware of it until the sixth inning when Glen Kuiper made an apology.”
Braden continued to say that the incident has impacted him greatly, and that he is doing his best to learn from it.
“Second, when issues around race occur, I'm always interested in having conversations aimed at finding healing and advancing collaborative discussions,” Braden said in his statement. “I have reached out to have those conversations, and I have listened, and I have learned. I will continue to seek clarity, encourage learning, and engage in dialogue to bring out the best in our diverse community.”
The incident has garnered a lot of attention, and now we know how Braden is handling the fallout. He is continuing to broadcast games for the Athletics.
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