A school district in Oklahoma has issued an apology after their basketball announcer referred to the names of a visiting girls team as, “pretty disgusting.”
The video and audio of the incident was originally captured by a parent for the visiting girls team, and shared on social media. In the video, the announcer can be heard saying, “Now their names are pretty disgusting, but I’m going to try to call them out.”
According to Lorna Pollard, whose daughter plays for Crooked Oak High School, the visiting team the announcer was apparently referring to, says that the school initially tried to explain the incident by saying the announcer was “old.”
Pollard wrote on Facebook that the school initially, tried to say “that the man was old and he didn’t mean it like that.
“But that’s exactly what he meant, there is no excuse or ignorance in 2020.”
Newkirk Public Schools Superintendent Brady Barnes released a statement apologizing and stating that the announcer was replaced at halftime.
“In around 20 years of announcing Newkirk games, this is the first time something like this has occurred,” Barnes wrote in the statement. “While he did not make any similar comments, I made the decision to replace him at halftime of the girls’ basketball game.
“We sincerely apologize for any pain or affront our announcer’s comment has caused Crooked Oak players, parents, patrons and school employees.”
Pollard, however, doesn’t believe the school’s apology is enough.
“Whether this comment was racist or not … intentional or not the point is it was hurtful to children and it is not OK,” Pollard wrote on Facebook. “I do not feel that a quiet apology is suitable for a public humiliation.”
Crooked Oak defeated Newkirk and won their first district championship in 20 years.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn