Grant Napear will get his day in court against Bonneville International. A U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California ruled that his wrongful termination suit against his former employer can proceed, but not all of the claims will move forward.
Judge Dale A. Drozd ruled that the case may proceed on the grounds of retaliation. The judge threw out Napear’s claim of religious discrimination. He also denied the broadcaster’s request to add a claim of breach of contract.
Napear was fired by Bonneville International in May of 2020 after tweeting the phrase “all lives matter” in response to former Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins asking how he felt about the Black Lives Matter movement.
Bonneville noted that there was a clause in Napear’s contract that deemed any act that “might discredit the goodwill, good name or reputation” a fireable offense. Napear claims he did not know the phrase was viewed as disparaging. He added that as a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church, he was taught there is an “inherent worth and dignity of every person.”
The court said that Napear’s complaint does not meet the standard for religious discrimination.
In addition to being the radio voice of the Sacramento Kings on KHTK, Grant Napear co-hosted the station’s afternoon show with Mike Bibby.
Bonneville had asked the judge to dismiss Napear’s claim of retaliation. However, the judge ruled that Napear’s lawyers had sufficiently alleged that Bonneville used the termination “as an example to all other employees of the Company as an implicit warning that anyone that dared to speak out publicly and criticize the politics of the Black Lives Matter movement would be summarily terminated.”
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