‘My heart aches’: Educators, parents respond to racist rant at high school basketball game
Click here for updates on this story
NORMAN, Oklahoma (KOCO) — Tonight, state educators are responding to a racist rant at a high school basketball game that was caught on tape.
The man, who may have been a commentator for the state tournament, was using racial slurs and cursing about the Norman Lady Tigers basketball team for kneeling during the national anthem. Since this video came out, many people have stepped up to show their support for the players.
Norman Public Schools issued a statement in support of the players.
“We will do everything in our power to support and uplift our team and everyone affected by this incident,” the district said and pointed to a picture of the faculty kneeling in support.
Parents have been coming forward saying the behavior is disgusting but shouldn’t keep their daughters from playing the game.
“These girls are innocent, innocent. This should be far from their minds,” father Bryatt Vann said of his freshman basketball player daughter.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister shared her thoughts in a statement as well.
“My heart aches for the young female athletes who were subjected to this hateful and disgusting tirade,” she said.
The Lady Tigers coach and Norman’s mayor took to Twitter to show their disgust with the language and to support the team.
The company that was broadcasting the live feed – NFHS – released a statement Friday afternoon.
“We apologize and are sickened by the comments made last night. We are outraged that they found their way into the production. We are aggressively investigating the incident,” the statement read in part.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
