A jury has awarded an Oklahoma man $25 million in damages after a newspaper wrongly identified him as a high school basketball commentator who hurled racial abuse at players.
Scott Sapulpa was one of two men to commentate on the March 2021 girls playoff game between Midwest City High School and Norman High School.
As the national anthem was played, the Normandy team took a knee, prompting second commentator Matt Rowan, a former youth pastor, to unleash a highly offensive racist rant against the girls, believing his microphone was not on. Rowan later blamed the tirade on his diabetes.
The Oklahoman – the largest newspaper in the state – incorrectly reported that Sapulpa had made the racist comments.
On Monday, Sapulpa was awarded the remarkable amount for his mistake.
“We are so happy for Scott. Hopefully this will live up to his name,” said Michael Barkett, Sapulpa’s attorney.
The Norman High School girls basketball team is seen kneeling in March 2021 – angering commentators Scott Sapulpa and Matt Rowan. Rowan then unleashed a racist tirade, which he later blamed on his diabetes
Scott Sapulpa (left) was reported in The Oklahoman for racist comments, when in fact it was his colleague Matt Rowan (right) who hurled the abuse
Barkett had argued in court that the case was intended to set a precedent.
“Their whole culture, as we’ve seen in this case, is profit over people,” he said. ‘It is their power that blinds them from telling the truth. They think they can get away with it.”
Bob Nelon, representative for Gannett, which owns The Oklahoman, said the company acknowledged it made a mistake and quickly corrected it, with Sapulpa’s name not appearing in the print version, and was quickly corrected online.
Nelon said a high award would hurt smaller company-owned newspapers.
“Newspapers are made of people, and people make mistakes,” Nelon said. ‘Mistakes happen. Gannett is made up of people – more than 11,000 people. “If you punish Gannett, you’re punishing all those small-town newspaper editors.”
The Oklahoman published its article about the incident around 11 a.m. the next day, and it was updated at 12:37 p.m. to incorrectly identify Sapulpa as the one who made racist comments.
Two and a half hours later, at 3:05 p.m., Sapulpa’s name was removed.
Rowan then admitted it was him, and at 5:35 p.m. he was named.
Rowan later admitted to making the racist comments
Gannett said they will appeal the award.
“No evidence was presented to the jury that The Oklahoman acted with the knowledge that what was reported was false, or with the intent to harm the plaintiff in this case,” said Lark-Marie Anton, spokesperson for the media group.
Rowan’s rant went viral and sparked national outrage.
‘Are they kneeling? F*** them. I hope Norman gets hit,” Rowan said as the girls fell to the ground to kneel for the national anthem.
Sapulpa, surprised by the kneeling, asked, “Are you serious?”
Rowan continued: “F*** them. I hope they lose. Come on Midwest City.
‘Are they going to kneel like that? The hell with them.
“They even salute the flag? Some of them don’t. F****** n*****s.”
Rowan’s racist rant went viral and sparked widespread outrage
Although Sapulpa was only accused of the racist tirade for less than three hours, his lawyers argued the damage was permanent.
He was placed on administrative leave, his teaching contract was not renewed, his private company lost nearly all of its clients, he received dozens of harassing messages, including death threats, and he lost many personal and professional relationships, his lawyers argued. NonDoc.com news website.
Rowan later apologized and blamed his diabetes.
“During the Norman High School girls basketball game against Midwest City, I made inappropriate and racist comments, believing the microphone was turned off; But let me say right away that this is not an excuse that such comments should never have been made,” he said in a statement.
“I not only embarrassed and disappointed myself, I embarrassed and disappointed my family and my friends.”
Rowan claimed that his diabetes sometimes causes him to make “hurtful” comments.
“I will say that I have type 1 diabetes and during the race my sugar levels spiked. “While I do not want to excuse my comments, it is not uncommon for me to become disoriented when my sugar levels spike and often say things that are both inappropriate and hurtful,” he said.
‘I don’t think I would have made such terrible statements without my sugar high.’
Rowan insisted he is not a racist and apologized for his comments.
JDRF, a nonprofit research organization for type 1 diabetes, responded in a tweet: “There are many symptoms of high blood sugar, racism is not one of them.”