Memphis Meteorologist Joey Sulipeck Accused of Racism After Calling NBA Player ‘Knuckle Dragger’

By Kevin Eck 

Fox Memphis chief meteorologist Joey Sulipeck is facing accusations of racism after tweeting about Golden State Warriors player Draymond Green in Game 3 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals on Saturday.

The WHBQ chief meteorologist’s tweet was captured by a reporter for the Memphis Commercial Appeal before it was deleted. The tweet shows Sulipeck calling Green a knuckle dragger, a derogatory term associated with primates.

“Draymond Green runs his knuckle-dragging open mouth ALL GAME LONG, but mild-mannered Kyle Anderson disputes one call and gets ejected?” Sulipeck wrote.

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“Emotions are high right now among teams and fans over the play in question but this right here?
@joeysulipeck—unacceptable,” wrote Commercial Appeal reporter Evan Barnes. “Memo to @FOX13Memphis—talk to your mans and check him. This is over the line and I won’t stand for it. This is bullsh-t.”

The Warriors beat Sulipeck’s hometown team, the Memphis Grizzlies, 142-112 in game three of the best of seven series.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said he wasn’t surprised that someone had used racist language to talk about one of his players.

“Does it surprise me that a weatherman would tweet a slur at Draymond in 2022? Not in the slightest,” Kerr said. “This is America. This is how we operate.”

Green also responded on social media.

“Thought y’all was tough in a Memphis y’all been deleting tweets & pages all damn night #StandOnYourShit,” Green responded.

We asked Cox, WHBQ’s parent company, about it. We’ll post the response once we’ve heard back.

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