3:51 PM PT — The man who made the racist comments is apologizing for his words — and chalking the whole thing up to a diabetic episode.
We spoke with 44-year-old Matt Rowan who admits it’s HIS voice making the insanely offensive comments about the girl’s basketball team while they were kneeling for the national anthem.

“I will state that I suffer Type 1 Diabetes and during the game, my sugar was spiking,” Rowan said in a statement.
“While not excusing my remarks, it is not unusual when my sugar spikes that I become disoriented and often say things that are not appropriate as well as hurtful.”
Rowan adds, “I do not believe that I would have made such horrible statements absent my sugar spiking.”
TMZ Sports spoke with Rowan who added, “I’m absolutely speechless for my rhetoric. I want to offer my deepest apologies to these girls because I hurt them.”

“[The N-word] should never be thought much less muttered.”
Rowan says he does not “want to hide behind diabetes” — adding, “I want to take ownership of my actions. Never my intention to hurt anyone. I am sickened by what I said. I am so sorry for what I said.”
10:25 AM PT — The Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association — which contracted the announcers for the game — announced Thursday night’s broadcast crew has been pulled from the remainder of the tournament while it investigates the incident.

This is disgusting.

A high school basketball announcer in Oklahoma called players “fing n**s” for kneeling during the national anthem before a game this week … and it was all caught on a hot mic.

It all went down before the Norman HS girls hoops team faced off against Midwest City during the Oklahoma 6A state basketball tournament Thursday night.

Every player from Norman elected to kneel for the duration of the anthem … which led to the announcer’s outburst on the National Federation of State High School Association Network’s official live stream. Here’s what we heard in the clip …

“They’re kneeling? Fing ns. I hope Norman gets their ass kicked. F* them. I hope they lose. They’re gonna kneel like that?”

The clip has since made rounds on social media .. with NFL stars like Kenny Stills — who also kneels for the anthem — and Gerald McCoy speaking out against the blatant racism.

“Amerikkka,” Stills tweeted Friday morning … while McCoy added, “See why we do it!?! They still think it’s about the flag.”

Players from the Norman girls hoops team also spoke out against the announcer’s comments … saying, “This is why we kneel.”

Norman superintendent Dr. Nick Migliorino ripped the “racist and hateful” comments in a scathing statement … saying, “We condemn and will not tolerate the disgusting words and attitudes of these announcers.”