On her January 26, 2020 broadcast on MSNBC, Morris was reporting on the death of retired basketball player Kobe Bryant, who was one of nine people killed in a helicopter crash earlier in the day. When Morris referred to Bryant's former team of the Los Angeles Lakers, she claims to have verbally stumbled and said "Los Angeles Nakers", immediately self-correcting to "Los Angeles Lakers". This caused many people to accuse her of using a racial slur, which she denied. The controversy led to the starting of a petition to have her fired, which gained over 184,000 signatures. Morris said she had stuttered, combining the words "Knicks" and "Lakers" into "Nakers".