Minor Hockey Broadcaster In BC Was Taken Off Air For A Racist Comment & He's 'Deeply Sorry'
"I take full responsibility for my racist words."
Langley Rivermen playing the Alberni Valley Bulldogs in a BCHL hockey game.
While on air, a B.C. minor league hockey broadcaster made a racist comment about a player, which he has since apologized for.
During the Friday night B.C. Hockey League playoff game the broadcaster, Bruce MacDonald, was providing commentary when he made the comment.
The game was between the Alberni Valley Bulldogs and the Langley Rivermen, and MacDonald made the comment after two players on opposing teams got into an altercation with each other.
The player's disagreement was quickly broken up by the referee, but MacDonald then questioned if one of them — named Owen Kim — speaks English.
MacDonald was providing commentary for the Alberni Valley Bulldogs, and Kim was a Langley Riverman player.
In a video posted of the game, you can hear MacDonald say: "Does he speak English? You know, maybe that's the problem."
The play-by-play announcer — named Evan Hammond — who was on the broadcast with MacDonald, let him know it was not okay.
"That's too far," Hammond said right after MacDonald made the comment about Kim.
The Bulldogs removed MacDonald from the broadcast during the game, and he is now banned from doing any future broadcast for any BCHL team.
MacDonald released an apology statement, posted to Twitter on Saturday morning.
In his public statement, he said that he tried to reach out to Owen Kim first, and had already apologized to the Langley Riverman organization.
According to the BCHL website, Owen Kim is from North Vancouver and is 17 years old.