NBA to Photog Who Posted Harris Meme: You're Fired

Bill Baptist apologized, but it was too late
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 16, 2020 4:40 PM CDT
NBA Fires Photog Who Posted Meme About Harris
In this Aug. 13, 2020, file photo Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden stands left as his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks at the Hotel DuPont in Wilmington, Del.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

An NBA photographer is out of a job after sharing a sexist meme that apparently mocked Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, CNN reports. The photog, Bill Baptist, posted a faux logo for the Democratic ticket that read, "Joe and the Hoe." Former WNBA Hall of Famer Sheryl Swoopes spotted the image and shared a screenshot of it on Facebook. "It's amazing how people will smile in your face but eventually their true colors will show," she wrote. "NBA and Houston Rockets he needs to GO!!! So disrespectful." He was indeed fired soon after.

"The photographer is an independent contractor and his services are no longer being used in Orlando," said an NBA rep in a short statement. KPRC reports that Baptist apologized, saying "I deeply regret posting on my Facebook page a phrase that I saw and copied from others as a sample of some people’s reactions to Biden's selection of Senator Harris as his choice for VP. The phrase I posted does not reflect my personal views at all." Baptist has been escorted from the NBA bubble in Orlando, USA Today reports. He had been a photographer with the Houston Rockets for over 30 years. (More NBA stories.)

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