The lawsuit by a former announcer filed against a radio station that carries Sacramento Kings games got a new wrinkle this week.
Grant Napear and his lawyers said in new court filings that Bonneville International, owners of KHTK-AM 1140, now claim they fired Napear last year because the NBA team it carried wanted to cut ties with the veteran sports announcer and broadcaster.
Previously, the Kings flagship station had said it was dumping Napear because he had violated the terms of his employment contract. In an amended complaint, Napear’s team claims that Bonneville representatives now say Napear was dismissed because the Kings wanted him out.
Earlier this year, Napear filed suit against Bonneville for wrongful termination after he was dismissed in June 2020 following a tweet he posted that his radio employers and others viewed as dismissive of the civil rights movement known as Black Lives Matter.
Napear said “all lives matter” in a response to former Kings player DeMarcus Cousins, who publicly asked Napear for his opinion about the movement on the social media platform.
Napear says he meant the phrase “all lives matter” in its most literal sense — that all people mattered. In subsequent interviews with The Sacramento Bee, Napear claimed he was not aware that opponents of Black Lives Matter used the phrase as a way to diminish or discount a movement that flourished at the height of nationwide protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis...
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