It took some time, but Brigham Young University on Friday confirmed what many conservatives could have predicted: that a fan’s alleged racist chant at a women’s volleyball game did not happen.
BYU released a statement saying that after a thorough investigation it could find no proof that Duke volleyball player Rachel Richardson was heckled with racist taunts at a match at the Utah school on Aug. 26.
In its statement, the school said it reviewed “all available video and audio recordings” of the game, including from security cameras and raw footage captured by the university’s TV outlet. BYU also interviewed more than 50 people at the match, including personnel from Duke, fans at the game, security guards, and other players – many of whom were in or near the student section from which the racial slurs against Richardson emanated.
Ultimately, BYU said, “From our extensive review, we have not found any evidence to corroborate the allegation that fans engaged in racial heckling or uttered racial slurs at the event.”
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BYU also said it lifted a ban on the fan accused by Richardson and Duke of making the comments. “We have not found any evidence that that individual engaged in such an activity. BYU sincerely apologizes to that fan for any hardship that ban has caused.”
As The Free Press recently reported, the claims surfaced after Richardson’s godmother, Lesa Pamplin, tweeted that a white man heckled Richardson “every time she served.”
Pamplin asserted that the fan used the N-word repeatedly and also “threatened” Richardson by telling her “to watch her back going to the team bus.”
Richardson furthered the phony story, saying publicly that “my fellow African American teammates and I were targeted and racially heckled throughout the entirety of the match. The slurs and comments grew into threats which caused us to feel unsafe.” She even told ESPN later that BYU “failed to take the necessary steps to stop the unacceptable behavior and create a safe environment.”
For the record, the BYU investigation followed attempts by the school to find the fan during the game.
A campus police officer was stationed near Duke’s bench and four ushers followed the student section looking for the alleged racist perp.
Reportedly, Pamplin, the instigator of the incident and the controversy, was not even at the game.
Ironically, she faces accusations of her own racism, although the national media will bury that part of the story.
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Outkick.com, a sports website founded by conservative commentator Clay Travis, uncovered Pamplin’s past tweets about whites. She has referred to white people as “crackers,” “creepy a– crackers,” and “poor white motherf—–s,” Outkick reported.
She also offered tweets such as “Bernie Sanders rallies are so white,” “White women & men always disappoint,” “If you’re White you totally wouldn’t understand,” “All these white women that ‘reluctantly’ voted for Trump in 2016 can kiss my a–,” and “Why does CNN constantly interview these dumb a– white women?”
In response to the Uvalde school massacre earlier this year, Pamplin tweeted, “Faux News breathing a sigh of relief it’s not a white kid…”
She seems credible in this controversy.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Free Press.
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