Appeals court upholds firing of longtime Kings announcer over All Lives Matter tweet
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Bonneville International was within its rights to fire Grant Napear after his “All Lives Matter” tweet during the 2020 protests.
Grant Napear spent 31 years as the voice of the Sacramento Kings before a single tweet sparked his dismissal. In May 2020, he responded to DeMarcus Cousins’ request for a view on Black Lives Matter with an “All Lives Matter … Every Single One” post on X. Bonneville International, which employed him as a KTHK radio host and the Kings’ play-by-play announcer, suspended him the following day and fired him a day later. Napear’s lawsuit argued the action violated his personal political expression, but the 9th Circuit held that his employment contract demanded a high standard of care on social media to protect the company’s public image.
The panel cited California law allowing such restrictions and classified Napear’s tweet as part of his public persona. His attorney, Matthew Ruggles, contested the ruling and said the case should go to a jury, seeking a rehearing and possibly Supreme Court review. The decision affirmed the district judge’s dismissal of the case. Since then, Napear has returned to radio on one outlet Radio in Sacramento after years of podcasting and has faced earlier controversies over comments on Donald Sterling and Doug Christie.
Why it matters
The ruling clarifies how employers can regulate employees' political speech on personal social-media accounts.
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