Man blames racist comments on his diabetes

The announcer made the racist comments while the girls kneeled during the anthem. Photo / Twitter

A sports announcer in Oklahoma, US, who was caught on video using the n-word to refer to a team of high school bastketball players, has blamed the incident on his type 1 diabetes.

Matt Rowan, the sports announcer and former youth pastor, responded to the controversy after footage emerged showing him spewing the racist slur during a high school basketball game.

In a lengthy statement, Rowan said he thought his microphone was off when he referred to the girls in the Norman High School basketball team by the n-word.

He then proceeded to blame his use of the racial slur on his "sugar spike".

"During the Norman High School girls basketball game against Midwest City, I made inappropriate and racist comments believing that the microphone was off; however, let me state immediately that is no excuse such comments should have never been uttered," he said in the statement.

"I will state that I suffer type 1 Diabetes and during the game my sugar was spiking. While not excusing my remarks it is not unusual when my sugar spikes that I become disoriented and often say things that are not appropriate as well as hurtful," he added.

The announcer who made the racist statements is partially blaming it on low blood sugar. pic.twitter.com/6cTwIZdJZI

— Dylan Goforth (@DGoforth918) March 12, 2021

He added that he didn't think he would have made the comments without the sugar spike.

"I do not believe that I would have made such horrible statements absent my sugar spiking."

The man who called a group of girls "n******" then went on to say he is not racist, and apologised for the comments.

In a tweet, the JDRF, a non-profit group for type 1 diabetes research, clarified that, while there are lots of symptoms of high blood sugar, "racism is not one of them".

There are a lot of symptoms of high blood sugar, racism is not one of them. https://t.co/q9l3Kd49Ne

— JDRF (@JDRF) March 13, 2021

The controversy began when a video of the game, which took place last Thursday, emerged, showing the announcer asking if Norman's players were kneeling on the court during the national anthem.

"I hope Norman gets their a** kicked," he said in the video. "F****** n******."

Dr Nick Migliorino, superintendent of Norman Public Schools, labelled the comments as "racist and hateful".

The city's mayor, Breea Clark, said she was "livid and absolutely disgusted" by them.

"These young athletes were simply expressing themselves as hundreds of professional athletes around the nation have done, and no one, let alone a child, deserves to experience this kind of racist and toxic behavior," she wrote on Twitter.

"The announcer could've stopped with declaring he hoped our team would lose, but instead he went further and decided to use profanity and racist slurs about our children," she added.