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FTA: “Jans, a native of the Netherlands, told ESPN that he used the N-word during a training camp in Arizona while singing along to a hip-hop song. He said he was immediately pulled aside by defender Nick Hagglund, who told him that it was a cultural taboo for a white person to say that word in America.

“I always walk into the locker room and have some talks and there’s always music and I’m interested in music,” Jans told ESPN. “I also know a little bit about hip-hop songs and maybe I do impulsive things. Sometimes I like to show that I’m interested in that culture and support people against any kind of discrimination and even racism. I hate it. But I did a clumsy thing and I realized that and I apologized for when I hurt people’s feelings. But it wasn’t addressed to someone. It wasn’t in bad intention.”

“Jans, a native of the Netherlands, told ESPN that he used the N-word during a training camp in Arizona while singing along to a hip-hop song. He said he was immediately pulled aside by defender Nick Hagglund, who told him that it was a cultural taboo for a white person to say that word in America.

My daughter had the same experience in college. She was assigned to tutor some Saudi exchange students in English. One of them heard some black yutes on a corner tossing the "N" word around at one another. He joined in and they nearly beat the living snot out of him. My daughter was tasked with trying to explain to him why it was OK for THEM to use that word, but not for him (which proved to be near impossible).