The Charlotte Hornets suspended a radio announcer for using the n-word in a tweet he says he 'mistyped'

• A radio announcer for the Charlotte Hornets was suspended for using the n-word in a tweet, which he said was a typing mistake.
• John Focke says he meant to reference the Jazz-Nuggets game, but Monday's tweet used a racial slur in lieu of "Nuggets."
• Focke said in a later tweet that he had "mistyped" and apologized for the error. "I don't know how I mistyped, I had (and have) no intention of ever using that word. I take full responsibility for my actions," he said.
• The team said in a statement Tuesday that Focke was "suspended indefinitely" as the team investigated the situation.

A radio announcer for the NBA's Charlotte Hornets has been suspended by the team after he used a racial slur in a tweet that he said he mistyped.

John Focke's Monday tweet, which has since been deleted, referenced the Jazz-Nuggets game, but misspelled "Nuggets" as a racial epithet.

The tweet offered Focke's commentary on the gameplay between Donovan Mitchell and Jamal Murray of the Utah Jazz and the Denver Nuggets, respectively, during the playoff series.

Focke deleted the tweet and apologized for the error in a tweet later on Monday, writing that he made a "horrific error" as he typed the tweet. "I don't know how I mistyped, I had (and have) no intention of ever using that word. I take full responsibility for my actions. I have been sick to my stomach about it ever since," he said. "I'm truly sorry that this happened and I apologize to those I offended."

—John Focke (@JWFOCKE) August 18, 2020

In an interview with the Charlotte Observer, Focke said that he was rushing to get the tweet out "so that it was relevant by the time I posted it. I tried to type it and obviously I mistyped the word 'Nuggets.' And I did not reread it — which, as you know, that's rule No. 1 of working in the media. And unfortunately, I didn't, because I was trying to get it up as fast as possible. And I hit 'Send.'"

The team said it was investigating Focke's tweet and he was suspended "indefinitely" in a statement shared to Twitter on Tuesday. "As an organization, we do not condone this type of language," the statement said.

—Charlotte Hornets PR (@HornetsPR) August 18, 2020

Insider did not immediately hear back from the Charlotte Hornets or Focke for comment.

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