Was it a poor choice of words? It’s two different spellings and meanings.Nothing but a learning experience. This guy made a poor choice of words and it cost him his job. Not the 1st or last time it will happen. Did he ever apologize for his poor choice of words? This is OBVIOUSLY a term the African-American community feels is offensive and disrespectful. If you're going to cover these athletes, you obviously need to be more aware of this. The penalty in this instance was pretty harsh, but examples are made in every aspect of life. Maybe this guy has a history of "reckless writing" or 'Insensitivity" and this was the last straw so to speak. If he apologized and was still blacklisted, that's wrong in my opinion. If not and he took a stance that he said nothing wrong, he's only got himself to blame. He's representing not only himself but a company with some rules in place he broke, hence losing his job. You want to yell fire in a crowded movie theatre, that's on you. Not ESPN or the NYT.