Commentators and the Los Angeles Clippers seemingly don’t work well together, as one of their color commentators had an on-air slip-up during the team’s Nov. 27 match against the defending NBA Champions: the Denver Nuggets.
In 2020, the Clippers added former NBA player Jim Jackson to the team’s commentary booth as a way to have someone with professional basketball experience included in their broadcasts. Jackson enjoyed a 14-year career in the NBA, as he played for 12 different teams.
The journeyman parlayed his on-the-court talents and knowledge into a career off the court. Jackson had stayed under the radar as the Clippers color commentator for three years until his recent slip-up during the team’s Monday night match-up.
As the Denver Nuggets were up by 10 points on the Clippers with 30 seconds left in the game, Jackson was explaining how the defending champions had held their lead as the Clippers fought from behind.
Jackson said, “Whenever the Clippers made a run, this n—-s,” before quickly catching himself and saying, “This Nuggets team found a way.”
There is a chance that Jackson, who is a Black man, said “Niggets,” but fans ran with the idea that the N-word had slipped out of his mouth during the broadcast. Some fans felt for the former NBA player as they said, “That n-double-g puts people in hell man, it’s crazy to me,” and “Don’t do unc like that Jim ain’t mean no harm.”
Others piled on with the jokes, as they said, “N—-s found a way. He right N—-s do be finding a way,” and “Real life autocorrect typo.” One fan joked that it was better Jackson had the slipup rather than his white cohost, “Lmaooo at least it wasn’t Brian.”
Real life autocorrect typo. https://t.co/mcta8SNFV2
— 🫵🏾🐒 (@SQUAADGAWWD) November 28, 2023
This isn’t the first on-air slip up concerning the Clippers that happened this year as, Fox Sports commentator Chris Broussard got into some trouble after he compared James Harden to someone with an intellectual disability.
During the Oct. 31 episode of FS1’s “First Things First,” Broussard, along with his cohosts Nick Wright and Kevin Wildes, argued about Harden’s role on the secondary LA team. Wright claimed that “The Beard” would begin to “mope” if he had to change his playing style on his latest team.
Broussard shot back, saying “You think he’s going to play like he did in Houston. Nick, is the man r——d?” The question caught both Wildes and Wright off guard as Wildes looked into the camera with a confused face, and Wright said, “You shouldn’t use that word, but sure.”
Just like Jackson, Broussard quickly tried to clean up his words as he said he meant to say “developmentally disabled.” A little bit later in the show, Broussard tried to do more damage control as he told a story about having to recently bury a “developmentally disabled” cousin of his.
Wright accepted his apology and said that he didn’t think anybody would “kill” him over his comments. The sports commentator was incorrect, as many people came out against Broussard and his use of the word — with some even calling for Fox to take his job. That did not happen as Broussard has been on the show every day since the incident.
