Wizards Broadcasters, Surely punishment incoming

[xAIRNESSx]

That counter to the sensitive language movement (which I do agree exists) is a movement of "I can joke about anything and if people are offended they're sensitive". That any trauma is up for grabs for joke, even if it wasn't experienced by the one making the joke.

Thus my Family Guy reference and how they're often adept ability at comedy about serious and traumatic events sometimes just devolves into 'offensive for the sake of being offensive comedy' which is actually rather stupid.

So for instance, if this commentator was making a joke about the shooting involving his father (I don't think he was, I buy his apology). That it was too far and not a joke for that commentator to make.

I'm about using laughter to get through tough times and the trauma in my life. But I'm allowed and my close friends are allowed to make those jokes. Daniel Sloss has a good bit on it. I'd expect my friends to joke about my trauma to help me through it.

Not just any random dickwad that thinks the trauma is now joke material.

I meant your second response about more people complaining about cancel culture than being cancelled. You seemed to want to downplay cancel culture, which is fine, but I didn't get why you were confused by my response that it still exists and people do worry about it, especially in the centre and left.

Because at no point did I say it didn't exist.

Just that at this point, I hear more about people complaining about people being cancelled than people being cancelled. It's become the rallying cry of the 'I don't like that I can't say what I want, whenever I want and not have to worry about consequences" camp.

But your reply was to downplay it. And nowhere did I say that people don't exaggerate claims of it at times either.

My point was that people, especially in the mainstream, are probably more cognizant of their word choice than they used to be. And I don't even think this is necessarily a bad thing. People should take more consideration in their word choice.

[GSWFan1994]

Honestly what happened to having patience and waiting before deciding to call for someones head? It was a misunderstanding. Dumb mistake. Nothing more than that move the **** on.

Because this is virtue signaling at its finest.

"Accuse them of what you do, call them of what you are" (Lenin's old adage).

[SatchSanders]

Seriously? Even though it's obvious that it was an innocent mistake, you think a guy who's worked hard at his profession for decades should lose his job?

There needs to be SOMETHING. This guy is likely making a nice six-figure paycheck. He needs to be held accountable for what he says on the air. If it turns out that it was just a lazy incorrect assumption that KPJ's dad was the Kevin Porter from the 70's, the fact that he made it such an authoritative reference - which turns out to have been BRUTAL - makes it something that needs to be addressed.

At the very least, a very public, top-of-the-next-telecast apology. Perhaps a low-key, one-game on-air suspension.

The guy is a pro. He should have known better.

I expect he will make that type of apology - voluntarily - if given a chance.

I really think he'll be given that chance. Truth in advertising, I'm one who tends to lean towards "canceling" people who cause harm. Someone like a Weinstein or a Cosby crowd out people who perhaps could have shared their gifts but for the damage they caused.

Having said that, Occam's Razor would indicate the guy saw the name "Kevin Porter, Jr." and just assumed it was the kid of the old Bullets point guard. He should reach out to the representatives of Porter, Jr. to see first what Porter, Jr. would prefer in terms of making amends. Then come out publicly with a public apology. Yes, top of the telecast, and also any tangible action that would make for a better world. Share what he has learned from this mistake, and accept responsibility. In turn we can learn as well. It's taught and reinforced how important it is to do due diligence before you assume two people are associated with each other.

[Tracymcgoaty]

Honestly what happened to having patience and waiting before deciding to call for someones head? It was a misunderstanding. Dumb mistake. Nothing more than that move the **** on.

Because this is virtue signaling at its finest.

"Accuse them of what you do, call them of what you are" (Lenin's old adage).

Didn't know you studied Leninism Arthur

[The Laker Kid]

I totally understand why people got triggered with this

[Snakebites]

Hearing the audio… it just doesn’t sound like an insult or joke. I tend to believe that he’s telling the truth about thinking he’s related to the former Bullet’s great.

Can you imagine Stacey King making that kind of mistake? Not a good reflection on his preparedness.

Sure.

But that turns it from a moral failing (making light of a fathers criminal record) to a professional one (failure of proper research).

I doubt these guys do most of their own research these days anyway, though I don’t doubt they are also expected to have their own knowledge.

Either way it’s a bad move. If it’s an honest mistake I don’t think it’s fireable though.

[Nuntius]

To no one's surprise, this thread, like many similar ones before it, has descended into culture wars and accusations of "cancel culture". But as is usually the case with these accusations, no proof is ever given. So, let me ask for it.

To all of you that have been complaining about "cancel culture" in this thread:

Any proof that any of us "evil SJW" posters in this thread tried to get this announcer fired? The most I have seen is some people saying that making a mix-up like that is an indication that he's bad at his job and that therefore his employers should probably fire him due to it. Personally, I don't agree with firing someone simply because they're bad at their job but that has absolutely nothing to do with "cancelling".

So, why are y'all talking about "cancel culture" yet again? What exactly are you outraged about? If you wanna complain about LeBron and his tweet about this topic, be my guest, but LeBron isn't a poster here. No "evil SJW" poster here tried to "cancel" the announcer in question. Why are you derailing yet another thread with your culture war nonsense?

I think what annoys me is that social activists champion the benefit of the doubt for minority groups, but don't afford to the same luxury to others. They instantly assume the worst intent. And there's often psychoanalysis associated with it. It's seldom, "oh, he slipped up and said something stupid". It's, "oh, he said something stupid because he's a closet racist and just couldn't help himself".

You have a reasonable stance but a lot of people don't. As you said, LeBron is going for the jugular, and at least on Twitter that isn't an uncommon view after incidents like this.

I don't think that you can make an accurate judgement about social activists unless you have lived these groups from up close. If you're just judging an activist group based on what you may listen about them on TV or other media then it is very possible that your view of them is clouded by the biases of the ones who presented that information to you.

[tundraknight]

If a Wizards announcer doesn't know that Kevin Porter isn't Kevin Porter Jr.'s dad, then he's pretty unprofessional/ignorant

How did it make sense in his head that a player from the 70’s fathered a now 21 year old kid? Either the joke, or that level of incompetence is worthy of firing him.

Yeah that’s a 50 year age gap.

I’m guessing that Wizards announcer just wasn’t thinking clearly at that moment. Perhaps it’s an early sign of becoming senile since he’s been doing this job for 22 years.

I know if I was in his shoes I’d be very embarrassed.

[GSWFan1994]

Didn't know you studied Leninism Arthur

Well noted!

[Nuntius]

"Accuse them of what you do, call them of what you are" (Lenin's old adage).

Except that Lenin never actually said that. But, of course, you don't really care about the veracity of your posts. Your whole shtick in this thread has been to agitate and politicize this event. Complain about "cancel culture" and virtue signaling and, in general, force your culture war BS down everyone's throat.

[ItsDanger]

And the same claim cancel culture doesn't exist. Rinse and repeat. Put your knives away for another day. I'm sure you'll get your chance again.

[John Murdoch]

Another one bites the dust to cancel squad, poor guy

[king_james_vers]

To no one's surprise, this thread, like many similar ones before it, has descended into culture wars and accusations of "cancel culture". But as is usually the case with these accusations, no proof is ever given. So, let me ask for it.

To all of you that have been complaining about "cancel culture" in this thread:

Any proof that any of us "evil SJW" posters in this thread tried to get this announcer fired? The most I have seen is some people saying that making a mix-up like that is an indication that he's bad at his job and that therefore his employers should probably fire him due to it. Personally, I don't agree with firing someone simply because they're bad at their job but that has absolutely nothing to do with "cancelling".

So, why are y'all talking about "cancel culture" yet again? What exactly are you outraged about? If you wanna complain about LeBron and his tweet about this topic, be my guest, but LeBron isn't a poster here. No "evil SJW" poster here tried to "cancel" the announcer in question. Why are you derailing yet another thread with your culture war nonsense?

I think what annoys me is that social activists champion the benefit of the doubt for minority groups, but don't afford to the same luxury to others. They instantly assume the worst intent. And there's often psychoanalysis associated with it. It's seldom, "oh, he slipped up and said something stupid". It's, "oh, he said something stupid because he's a closet racist and just couldn't help himself".

You have a reasonable stance but a lot of people don't. As you said, LeBron is going for the jugular, and at least on Twitter that isn't an uncommon view after incidents like this.

I don't think that you can make an accurate judgement about social activists unless you have lived these groups from up close. If you're just judging an activist group based on what you may listen about them on TV or other media then it is very possible that your view of them is clouded by the biases of the ones who presented that information to you.

Your anecdotal experiences don't outweigh what I can observe happening millions of times a day on Twitter. LeBron James is a leader and role model of many in the black community, and he routinely prepares the guillotine. This isn't like me hand-picking fringe opinions.

I'm guessing you must be involved in social activism because you come off as very apologetic. I wish more people were balanced like you, but sadly too people thirst for figurative bloodshed.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

Can't wait till they dish out the punishment. That should NOT be admissible. Counting down, not a matter of if, but when.

Is this how you eke out an existence?

I'll give you credit, your location of dystopia seems terribly fitting.

Maybe just wait until you hear all sides of a story until hoping for the destruction of another.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

There is absolutely no chance he was talking about his father and what happened. This is a case of mistaken identity. He should have looked it up, but this is very obviously an honest mistake.

Read on Twitter

The ironic thing in all of this are the people who are calling for this guy's head, they themselves not knowing there was a good Kevin Porter who used to play in the league.

Great, now that jackass is getting involved.

"I want to destroy your livelihood, but I'll pray for ya!"

**** jackass.

Glad others see the irony in how he phrased things.

[Duffman100]

Your anecdotal experiences don't outweigh what I can observe happening millions of times a day on Twitter.

I suppose that's true. His anecdotal experience doesn't outweigh your anecdotal experience.

[HotelVitale]

"Accuse them of what you do, call them of what you are" (Lenin's old adage).

Except that Lenin never actually said that. But, of course, you don't really care about the veracity of your posts. Your whole shtick in this thread has been to agitate and politicize this event. Complain about "cancel culture" and virtue signaling and, in general, force your culture war BS down everyone's throat.

And all of 'cancel culture' freak-outs are so blatantly cooked up to cause this. There have been and always will be consequences for people breaking social rules, it's childish (or more often just intentionally misleading) to pretend that we have just recently become stuck in some sort of wild out-of-control vengeance machine that destroys good people by the thousands. There are endless mundane examples we experience everyday: I got punished for making idiotic fat jokes at school as a 3rd grader, my wife was recently asked out of a move theater for being too loud, your girlfriends' friends might get pissed at you if you don't follow their norms, etc. Black folks were literally killed under Jim Crow for breaking (white) norms, but we all get kept in line by little things everyday, it's how groups maintain their norms.

Do people sometimes get excessive with calling for punishment, and are they frequently annoying about it? Yes, obviously. That's how a society works. There's always a range of opinions and a range of reactions that people have, and there are no rules or handbooks for what's okay to say and what's the appropriate response if people mess up norms. You have to talk it out, it's how a group tests and re-establishes its identity.

To pretend that that's all nonsense, and that people never have to worry about what they say, and that some woke/PC army is out there destroying freedom--that's just manipulating basic human discomfort into political BS.

[bisme37]

The Wizards announcer gave a good explanation for his comment and the General NBA Board is not the place for wide-ranging arguments over politics and "cancel culture" etc. So I think this thread has run its course.