Wizards broadcaster Glenn Consor called Kevin Porter Jr.'s game-winner for the Rockets against Washington last night:
“Kevin Porter Jr., like his dad, pulled that trigger right at the right time.”
In 1993, Porter’s father pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter after a girl was shot in his car. The elder Porter, who was killed in 2004, claimed the gun accidentally discharged while he handed it to her. A witness, a friend of the girl, called the shooting intentional then recanted.
LeBron James:
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! https://t.co/UgVOBUOsPK
— LeBron James (@KingJames) January 6, 2022
Consor:
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
Kyle Goon of the Southern California News Group:
LeBron says he's not calling for Glenn Consor to lose his job, but he isn't OK with letting that mistake go: I never met the guy. I don't know him. I pray for him, like I said in my tweet. But I can't let that comment ride about a guy (Kevin Porter Jr.) who looks up to me.
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) January 6, 2022
LeBron says about Consor's comment, "I believe that was a slip-up." But he doesn't like that once an apology is delivered, many just want to move on and not talk about it. https://t.co/s1F7K9x3Kg
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) January 6, 2022
LeBron drew widespread praise for saying in 2014, “There is no room for Donald Sterling in our league.” Then the Clippers owner, Sterling had a long history of housing discrimination, sexual harassment and racist hiring practices.
LeBron’s comment about Consor sounds remarkably similar.
It’s unclear how LeBron squares “there’s no place in our beautiful game for you” with saying he’s not calling for Consor to lose his job. Nor is it clear what LeBron believes should happen to Consor over what even LeBron acknowledges was a slip-up.
From the moment he made the call, it seemed Consor mistook former NBA player Kevin Porter – who played for the Bullets, Pistons and Nets in the 70s and early 80s – for the current Houston guard’s father.
What’s more likely: Consor knew the family background of a player who has spent his three-year career on forgettable lousy teams then chose that moment for an incredibly cruel comment? Or Consor mistakenly thought the Rockets’ Porter was the son of once-far-more-prominent Kevin Porter, whose impressive timing for delivering the ball showed while leading the NBA in assists per game four times?
Consor not properly researching a player he’s covering is unacceptable. But if that mix-up had come out in nearly any other way, this would be a minor and forgettable slip. There were numerous ways Consor could have – mistakenly – linked Kevin Porter Jr. to the 70s player during the game. The line Consor used happened to be the most incensing.
If you take Consor at his word, his apology seems sufficient for an unfortunate error that had no malicious intent behind it.
