(KRON) — Glen Kuiper will no longer be announcing Oakland A’s games after he used a racial slur during a broadcast on May 5, NBC Sports Bay Area confirmed on Monday.

Kuiper used the word when describing a trip to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. He claimed that his words “didn’t come out quite the way I wanted it to” when he used the “n-word” instead of saying “Negro Leagues.”

“Following an internal review, the decision has been made for NBC Sports California to end its relationship with Glen Kuiper, effective immediately,” the network said in a statement to the Associated Press. “We thank Glen for his dedication to Bay Area baseball over the years.”

According to the AP, “the decision was based on a variety of factors, including information uncovered in the internal review.” That quote came from an anonymous source who did not reveal specific details.

Kuiper’s alleged mistake happened before the first pitch of the A’s game against the Royals. Before the 6th inning, he apologized.

“A little bit earlier in the show, I said something that didn’t come out quite the way I wanted it to,” he said. “And I just wanted to apologize if it sounded different than I meant it to be said. I just wanted to apologize for that.”

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The day after the incident, NBC Sports Bay Area announced that Kuiper was suspended. Kuiper said in a statement that he “could not be more sorry and horrified by what I said.”

Kuiper has been announcing A’s games for 20 years. His brother Duane Kuiper is the San Francisco Giants’ announcer.

On Monday night, Kuiper sent a statement to KRON4 regarding his firing. He called the use of the word a “very unfortunate mispronunciation” and apologized for the incident.

Kuiper also said that he has a hard time understanding the firing, given his lengthy career as Oakland’s broadcaster. He claimed that, “In this current environment traits like integrity and character are no longer considered.”

Read the full statement from Kuiper below:

“Monday morning I was informed by an NBC executive that after a 20-year broadcasting career with the Oakland Athletics my contract was terminated, effective immediately. The termination was due to the unintentional use of an offensive word on the air during the May 5 pregame show.

On that day, I chose to spend my personal time by educating myself and learning more about MLB’s history by going to the Negro League Museum. I spent nearly three hours there in an effort to better understand and more deeply appreciate the difficulties and social barriers African American players endured in MLB’s early years. 

When the subject of the museum visit came up in the pregame show, I was excited and eager to share what I had done and seen that day. In my excitement, I rushed through the word “negro” resulting in my very unfortunate mispronunciation. I sincerely apologize to everyone who was hurt by this. It was a terrible but honest mispronunciation, and I take full responsibility.

Please know racism is in no way a part of me; it never has been, and it never will be. I appreciate the Negro League Museum president Bob Kendrick and Oakland A’s great Dave Stewart’s public support of me in light of this. I am an honest, caring, kind, honorable, respectful husband and father who would never utter a disparaging word about anybody. Those who know me best know this about me.

I wish the Oakland A’s and NBC Sports would have taken into consideration my 20-year career, my solid reputation, integrity, and character, but in this current environment traits like integrity and character are no longer considered. I will always have a hard time understanding how one mistake in a 20-year broadcasting career is cause for termination, but I know something better is in my future.

I love the game of baseball and I love being a broadcaster, and I love the Bay Area community. I hope I will be remembered for that. Thank you to all my family, friends and great A’s fans that have shown their support.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.