Denver Post sportswriter fired over 'disrespectful' Indy 500 tweet

Takuma Sato's car during the Indy 500.
(Image credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

A sportswriter for The Denver Post was fired Monday after he sent what the newspaper called a "disrespectful and unacceptable" tweet about the winner of the Indianapolis 500.

Following Takuma Sato's win on Sunday, sporstwriter Terry Frei tweeted: "Nothing specifically personal, but I am very uncomfortable with a Japanese driver winning the Indianapolis 500 during Memorial Day weekend." Not long after he posted his message, Frei deleted it. He followed up with an apology to Sato and those who were offended by his tweet. "I made a stupid reference, during an emotional weekend, to one of the nations that we fought in World War II — and, in this case, the specific one my father fought against," he said, later adding he was "angry" at himself because "there was no constructive purpose in saying it and I should not have said it, especially because The Denver Post has been dragged into this."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.