During a live stream, an Oklahoma sports announcer was using racial slurs towards a girl’s high school basketball team, who were kneeling during the national anthem. 

On Friday, March 12, Frankie Parks, a teacher and the basketball team coach at Norman High School, posted a video clip on Twitter of the announcer’s comments.

The sports announcer, Matt Rowan, can be heard in the clip saying obscenities like, “ F*** them, I hope they lose.” and “They’re going to kneel like that? Hell no. F***ing n****s.” 

“I have not only embarrassed and disappointed myself, but I have embarrassed and disappointed my family and my friends,” Rowan said in a statement to The Frontier, a nonprofit news organization that covers Oklahoma. “During the game, my sugar was spiking. While I am 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.” 

He also added that the remarks he made would not have been made if it were not for his sugar spiking and that he is willing to take responsibility for the comments he made.

The NFHS Network, which was where the basketball game was broadcasted, has also issued an apology and has since stopped working with the broadcast crew.

Previously, the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association contracted the broadcast crew to announce the state tournament on the NFHS Network. However, they have now announced that the crew will not be doing any more games and that the NFHS Network will no longer stream the tournament.

In a statement, Norman Superintendent Dr. Nick Migliorino said, “This type of hate speech has no place in our society and we are outraged that it would be directed at any human being, and particularly at our students.” 

The Norman city's mayor, Breea Clark, also expressed her disgust and anger over the comments made by the announcer in a series of tweets.

"These young athletes were simply expressing themselves as hundreds of professional athletes around the nation have done, and no one, let alone a child, deserves to experience this kind of racist and toxic behavior," Clark tweeted.

By Alexandria Kim