On a tragic day Sunday when former NBA great Kobe Bryant and his daughter were among nine people killed in a California helicopter crash, MSNBC's Alison Morris appeared to have possibly referred on-air to his team as the "Los Angeles N*ggers." She apologized and claimed she had actually said "Los Angeles Nakers," but Fox Sports 1's Jason Whitlock isn't buying her explanation.
Morris started a social media firestorm when she said of Bryant:
"Seems like he was just the kind of athlete, the kind of star, that was perfectly cast on the Los Angeles Nakers — Los Angeles Lakers ... "
Many people thought she had said "Los Angeles Niggers" instead of "Nakers."
On Sunday evening, Morris tweeted:
“Earlier today, while reporting on the tragic news of Kobe Bryant’s passing, I unfortunately stuttered on air, combining the names of the Knicks and the Lakers to say 'Nakers.’ Please know I did not & would NEVER use a racist term. I apologize for the confusion this caused.”
Many of Morris's MSNBC colleagues tweeted support for her. A co-host of the weekday Fox Sports 1 television program Speak For Yourself, Whitlock (seen in above photo) lashed out at her via Twitter:
"Stop this bullshit. Clear as day what she said."
"This bullshit excuse makes it worse. Delete your account."
"I don't know what's in her heart. I know what she said and I know it's unacceptable and she needs to go away and not spew the bullshit about meaning to say Knicks. I'm done with this topic."
Bryant, 41, and his daughter Gianna Maria Onore Bryant, 13, and seven others were passengers in his helicopter en route to Thousand Oaks, CA, for her youth basketball game Sunday. The fourth-leading scorer in NBA history and a five-team league champion, Bryant was going to coach his daughter's team. The helicopter crashed about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
