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An attorney representing former Sacramento sports talk radio host Grant Napear said he might take his free-speech fight to the U.S. Supreme Court after a federal appeals court ruled against him.
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The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals determined Thursday that Bonneville International Corp., the parent company for KHTK-AM Sactown Sports 1140, was within its rights to fire Napear after his “All Lives Matter” tweet created a social media firestorm.
Napear, who hosted an afternoon radio show in addition to his role as a play-by-play announcer on Sacramento Kings television broadcasts, sent the tweet in response to a question from former Kings star DeMarcus Cousins. In May 2020, Cousins asked Napear what he thought about the Black Lives Matter movement amid nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd.
Napear replied, in part, “ALL LIVES MATTER … EVERY SINGLE ONE!!!” His response led to allegations of racial insensitivity.
Napear was fired by Sactown Sports 1140 and resigned from his position with the Kings. Napear sued Bonneville, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, claiming the Salt Lake City-based broadcaster violated his right to religious freedom and California labor laws protecting political activity by employees.
A federal court judge in Sacramento dismissed Napear’s case, ruling it would be unconstitutional to apply California labor laws protecting the political rights of employees to the company’s action in firing Napear.
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Circuit Judges Bridget S. Bade, Danielle J. Forrest, and Lawrence VanDyke upheld that decision, ruling: “Napear was a public figure in his role as a radio-show host with Bonneville, and his employment contract incorporated a Social Media Policy that required him to maintain ‘a high standard of care and level of responsibility’ in his ‘personal use of social media’ since ‘the results of such use are inseparably connected with (Bonneville)’s public image and reputation.’
“Bonneville further ‘reserved the right to set limits on (public-figure) employees’ (social-media) use’ and ‘claimed ownership in the results of any (personal social-media) use’ by public-figure employees that involved ‘in any way … such celebrity persona.’
“The Social Media Policy also provided that any conduct on social media that ‘adversely affected … (Bonneville)’s legitimate business interests may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.’”
Matthew Ruggles, the lawyer representing Napear, told The Sacramento Bee he is contemplating his next steps in the appeals process.
“We were disappointed by the 9th Circuits ruling, especially because they decided the case based upon a disputed issue – whether Grant’s use of his Twitter account was part of his ‘official capacity’ as a radio host,” Ruggles said. “We contend it absolutely was not, and that the issue should have been decided by a jury rather than the court. Nevertheless, we are considering filing a request for rehearing en banc, and a petition for review to the United States Supreme Court.”
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