The gaffe occured as the host was teasing Paul Pierce about his "injured" knee in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, sports blog FanNation.com reports. In describing how Pierce quickly came back after being taken off on a wheelchair, Timberlake joked that Pierce was back on the court, "shucking and jiving." According to reports, the comment was met with silence from the audience.
The phrase has it's origins in slavery and is, to some, an offensive reference to the black person's historical subordinance to whites. Other's in the media have caught heat for using the phrase - which is widely misunderstood.
In May of 2007, Sacramento Bee sports writer Paul Gutierrez described boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. as having "shucked and jived" in a post-fight story. The writer later apologized.
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