High School Basketball Announcer Caught On Hot Mic Calling Black Players Ni**ger When They Kneel For Anthem

A basketball announcer was caught on a hot mic calling a high school girls’ team the N-word as they kneeled in protest during the national anthem. The Norman High girls’ team kneeled in protest before their quarterfinal in the Oklahoma 6A State Basketball Tournament against Midwest City.

"They're kneeling? F***** n*****," the announcer can be heard saying on the National Federation of State High School Associations online stream, a short video of which was shared and viewed widely on Twitter.

He later apologized and blamed his racist statements on his diabetes.

Superintendent Dr. Nick Migliorino of Norman High released a statement on the incident:

"We condemn and will not tolerate the disgusting words and attitudes of these announcers," said Dr. Migliorino. "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."

"We fully support our students’ right to freedom of expression and our immediate focus is to support these girls and their coaches and families, particularly our Black students and coaching staff," added Dr. Migliorino. "It is tragic that the hard work and skill of this team is being overshadowed by the vile, malignant words of these individuals. We will do everything in our power to support and uplift our team and everyone affected by this incident. Moving forward NPS will rely only on our long-standing, community partner SportsTalk Media to live stream the remainder of the tournament, as we have full confidence in their proven ability to respectfully support our student athletes."