The sudden retirement on Sunday of  longtime Indianapolis Colts radio broadcaster Bob Lamey, the voice of the organization for over thirty years, was due to his use of the N-Word in front a black colleague, it’s been revealed.

According to Fox 59, the colleague said Lamey used the slur while telling her a story off-air last Tuesday. She said Lamey was telling her about when he used to work at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and was describing an interview with an unnamed person. Lamey told his colleague that this person was asked if any racers were holding back their speed during qualifications, to which the person replied, “There aren’t any niggers in this race.”

The colleague reportedly then confronted Lamey, telling him it was inappropriate to use that word in her presence.

“He thought it was OK to use that type of language at work,” the unnamed radio employee said. He was like, ‘Oh I’m so so sorry. I’m so sorry if you’re offended by this. I didn’t mean to offend anyone’ and I was like ‘I’m black and I wouldn’t ever say that word’ and sort of just told him how it hurt me and how I don’t think he should say it ever, even if he’s telling a story. Then once he saw my face and realized he had messed up he had started really like profusely apologizing saying ‘Please don’t tell anybody.’ When I left he said it again, ‘Please don’t tell anybody. Don’t mention this to anyone’. I think he was apologizing so much because he knows it’s wrong and he knows that people lose their jobs for that.”

The employee reported the incident to HR the next day and four days later, Lamey retired. In a statement released through his attorney, Lamey admitted to using the slur and apologized. The Colts responded with a statement that said they “do not tolerate the use of any racial slur” and said Lamey apologized and “promptly retired as the Colts play-by-play announcer.”