BYU Investigation Finds ‘No Evidence’ of Racist Heckling in Incident Covered Extensively on ESPN and CNN
Utah’s Brigham Young University released a statement Friday concluded after an in-depth investigation that Duke volleyball players were not subjected to racial slurs during a game on Aug. 26 – allegations that led to a fan being banned and a media uproar.
Deseret News reported on Friday that the Provo university spoke with more than 50 eyewitnesses and “reviewed extensive video and audio of the match” before coming to a conclusion.
Additionally, BYU had placed a “police officer and four ushers into the student section” where the Duke player had alleged the racial slurs were coming from. The player “said she heard the slurs more intensely in the fourth set, when the ushers, BYU Police Det. Sgt. Richard Laursen and a Duke assistant athletic director stood near where she served and by the student section,” added Deseret News.
After the game, BYU reportedly “banned a fan who Duke said had used the N-word and had made a player uncomfortable after the match. The fan is not a BYU student.”
“We reviewed all available video and audio recordings, including security footage and raw footage from all camera angles taken by BYUtv of the match, with broadcasting audio removed (to ensure that the noise from the stands could be heard more clearly),” the BYU statement said.
“We have not found any evidence that that individual engaged in such an activity,” the school concluded.
“BYU sincerely apologizes to that fan for any hardship the ban has caused,” the school added and lifted the ban on Friday.
Det. Sgt. Richard Laursen who stood near the fan who was banned told the investigation that he both did not hear any racial slurs and that the banned fan had not acted inappropriately. Additionally, Laursen noted he believed the fan may have “(A)sperger syndrome or could have autism.”
The allegations of racism at the game were widely covered in the media as the player told ESPN, “I heard a very strong, negative racial slur. … So I served the ball, got through the play. And then the next time I went back to serve, I heard it extremely clear again, but that was the end of the game.”
The player also spoke to Sports Center and detailed the allegations and claimed she doesn’t “want to group BYU altogether in a negative light.”
Duke volleyball player Rachel Richardson (@rachrich03) endured racial abuse from fans in a match vs BYU over the weekend.
She tells Holly Rowe (@sportsiren) why she responded with love over anger, and what she hopes people can learn from this incident. pic.twitter.com/Lna8f9Al0F
— Outside The Lines (@OTLonESPN) August 30, 2022
Media critic Steve Krakauer noted CNN anchor Brianna Keilar interviewed the father and declared the racist incident happened in her line of questioning, beginning, “A Division I volleyball match at Brigham Young University turned really ugly, when Black players from Duke University endured racial slurs from at least one fan in the crowd.” Jim Acosta also covered the story, saying, “Coming up next a Duke University volleyball player is speaking out after she and other black teammates were called racist slurs and threatened during a match against Brigham young next.”
Additionally, MSNBC ran a headline railing against BYU, titled, “The racism on display at Brigham Young Friday fits a historical pattern.” David Zirin wrote “the incident brought to mind how Black athletes in the 1960s and 1970s boycotted games and meets on the BYU campus in Utah in the name of human dignity. At the time, there was a widespread condemnation of the — quite literally — white supremacist politics of the Mormon Church.”
BYU added in its statement, “Our fight is against racism, not against any individual or any institution. Each person impacted has strong feelings and experiences, which we honor, and we encourage others to show similar civility and respect. We remain committed to rooting out racism wherever it is found. We hope we can all join together in that important fight.”
“The South Carolina women’s basketball team recently canceled a home-and-home series against BYU, citing the incident at the Duke-BYU volleyball match,” reported ESPN.
