Thunder Call Out Announcer For Saying Russell Westbrook Was "Out Of His Cotton-Pickin' Mind"

During the second quarter of last night’s game against the Grizzlies, Thunder play-by-play man Brian Davis capped off a big Thunder play by declaring that Russell Westbrook “out of his cotton-pickin’ mind.”

That’s a bad and racist thing to say for pretty obvious reasons, and Thunder VP of broadcasting Dan Mahoney told the that Davis’s remarks were out of line:

“We think obviously the use of that term was offensive and inappropriate, and I expressed that to Brian last night,” Mahoney said Thursday. “Brian assures me that it was not meant in any derogatory way, and he apologizes. But again, we feel strongly that it’s inappropriate and offensive.”

Davis has been a team employee since they moved to Oklahoma City 10 years ago, and Mahoney said that they wouldn’t force him to apologize or address his comments on a future broadcast. “That’s really up to Brian,” he said. “Again, we’ve expressed to him strongly that it was offensive and inappropriate, and that’s all we can do for right now.”

[ Norman Transcript]