An Oklahoma man was awarded $25 million in damages after a jury concluded that the state’s largest newspaper intentionally harmed him when it wrongfully identified him as the high school sports announcer who hurled racist remarks at players.
Scott Sapulpa was one of two announcers commentating on a March 2021 girls’ playoff game between Midwest City High School and Norman High School that made national headlines when the Norman team took a knee and the other commentator, Matt Rowan, went on a racist tirade against the girls.
“They’re kneeling? F–king n—-s. I hope Norman gets their ass kicked. F–k them. I hope they lose. They’re gonna kneel like that?,” Rowan said as the game was live-streamed.
After about 30 seconds, the unidentified announcer muttered something indistinguishable before once again using the highly offensive slur, accentuated with profanity, to refer to the student athletes.
But in its initial reporting of the incident, The Oklahoman wrongfully reported that it was Sapulpa who made the racist remarks.
He later sued, alleging defamation and infliction of emotional distress, claiming that he suffered lasting damage as a result of the wrongful identity — even though his name was only attached to the article for less than three hours.
On Monday, a jury agreed with him and ordered Gannett — the parent company of The Oklahoman — to pay $5 million in actual damages and another $20 million in punitive damages.
“We’re just so happy for Scott,” attorney Michael Barkett said in the aftermath. “Hopefully this will vindicate his name.”
He argued in court last week that the case would set a precedent for other newspapers, according to NonDoc.com.
“Their entire culture, we’ve seen in this case, is profits over people,” Barkett said. “Their power is what blinds them from telling the truth. They think they can get away with it.”
But Bob Nelon, an attorney for Gannett, pointed out that the company recognized it made a mistake and quickly took down Sapulpa’s name.
He argued that awarding Sapulpa such a high amount of money would harm the smaller, community newspapers the company owns.
“Newspapers are made up of people, and people make mistakes. Mistakes happen,” Nelon said.
“Gannett is made up of people — over 11,000 people. When you punish Gannett, you’re punishing all those small-town newspaper editors.”
The Oklahoman punished its article about the racist remarks at the high school basketball game one day after the incident, at around 11 a.m.
It was updated at 12:37 p.m. to falsely identify Sapulpa as the one who used the racial slur.
Two and a half hours later, his name was removed.
Rowan then admitted it was him, and he was named in the article at 5:35 p.m. He would later claim he made the comments because he is diabetic.
Still, Sapulpa’s attorneys claimed that as a result of the wrongful identification, he was placed on administrative leave, his teaching contract was not renewed, his private business lost nearly all of its clients, he received death threats and lost personal and professional relationships.
Following the verdict on Monday, Sapulpa said he felt “numb,” NonDoc.com reports.
“My kids, their last name is cleared, too,” he said between tears.
But Gannett said it would appeal the verdict.
“There was no evidence presented to the jury that The Oklahoman acted with any awareness that what was reported was fake or with any intention to harm the plaintiff in this case,” Lark-Marie Anton, a spokesperson for the media conglomerate, said in a statement.
With Post wires.
