Wizards play-by-play announcer Glenn Consor recently found himself in a heap of trouble after making some ill-advised comments towards Kevin Porter Jr. after he nailed an incredible game-winning shot.
“You’ve got to give credit. Kevin Porter Jr., like his dad, pulled that trigger right at the right time,” Consor said on-air after Porter’s shot gave Washington a 114-111 win.
As it turns out, the bit about ‘pulling the trigger like his dad’ was in especially poor taste as Porter Jr.’s father was actually a victim of gun violence, passing away when the guard was still just a toddler.
LeBron James, like much of social media at the time, called out Consor for the insensitive comment, seemingly calling for the man’s job on Twitter.
“Oh he thought this was cool huh!!?? Nah we ain’t going for this! Sorry but this ain’t going to fly! How insensitive can you be to say something like this. Beat it man! I pray for you but there’s no place in our beautiful game for you!”
For what it’s worth, Consor did issue an apology, admitting that it was an honest mistake (he thought Kevin Porter Jr. was related to former Wizards player Kevin Porter) and apologizing to Porter Jr. and his family.
I want to sincerely apologize to Kevin Porter Jr and clarify last night’s call. pic.twitter.com/UweFhFnkbt
— Glenn Consor (@glennconsor) January 6, 2022
Despite his statement, LeBron wouldn’t walk back on the words of his tweet. In fact, in a chat with the media, The King doubled down on his comments. Here’s his lengthy rant:
“I stand by my tweet and I stand by everything I said. Let’s just say he thought that was the case. We get scouting reports on players and I know you guys in the media y’all get memos and stuff from players before the game. I’m not a play-by-play person but I believe they do their due diligence as well and they get their reports on teams they about to play as well as their own team. I was actually watching the game live last night when I heard it.
So if I’m a play-by-play announcer, and I’m covering my local team in his case he’s covering the Wizards. So he remembers the Kevin Porter that used to play for the Bullets. The first thing I would have done, I would have said ‘oh, Kevin Porter Jr. is coming into town, let me see if that’s his son.’ I would have done that due diligence way before and I think everybody on this call would have done the same thing.”
LeBron explaining his tweet criticizing the Wizards announcer for comments about Kevin Porter Jr and his dad (only 1:30+ mins worth from his presser, he spoke for much longer on the subject): pic.twitter.com/o0J7lBmEOF
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) January 6, 2022
It’s honestly an unfortunate situation all-around. It’s rough for KPJ, who is having is having to deal with the death of his father being spoken about by thousands of people online.
It’s unfortunate for Consor, too, who could be on the verge of losing his job and reputation over an honest mistake.
Just goes to show how one small oversight can become the NBA’s next big controversy.
