Photo Credit: OSPN
A basketball game at Norman High School in Oklahoma resulted in one of the teams being called the N word for kneeling during the national anthem. His response was “They’re kneeling? Fuckin n*ggers.” Announcer Matt Rowan went on to say “I hope Norman gets their ass kicked. Fuck them. I hope they lose. C’mon Midwest City. They’re gonna kneel like that? Hell no.” Yes, this happened in 2021. People have become quite emboldened over issues like this as of late.
Norman Public Schools District Superintendent Dr. Nick Migliorino wrote in a statement “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.”
“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,” he continued, adding the Norman Public School will no longer use the NFHS Network to “broadcast its game.”
“On behalf of the NFHS Network and the OSSAA, we sincerely apologize that this happened at one of our events,” added OSSAA executive director David Jackson. “While we are currently investigating the incident, this crew will not be doing any more games for the remainder of our championships. This kind of behavior will never be tolerated by anyone representing the NFHS or OSSAA.”
Then the National Federation of High School released a statement saying they were “sickened” by Rowan’s comments saying, “The NFHS Network firmly condemns racism, hate and discrimination, and there is no room for this in high school sports or anywhere.”
“We sincerely apologize to the students, their families and the entire community for having such ignorant comments expressed during the broadcast. We are aggressively investigating the incident and will ensure that any individuals responsible will have no relationship with the NFHS Network moving forward.”
Norman Mayor Breea Clark said she was “livid and absolutely disgusted. 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,” said Clark, who announced plans to hold a town hall with the youth of Norman “so we can learn how this incident has impacted them and hear directly from our kids how we can improve our community going forward.” She went on to call for an end to the contract involving the NFHS Network.
Now here’s the fun part. The announcer, Matt Rowan, owner of the livestreaming platform OSPN the game was broadcasted over made a statement to multiple news outlets blaming low blood sugar for his comments. He said, “I made inappropriate and racist comments believing that the microphone was off; however, let me state immediately that is no excuse, such comments should have never been uttered,” Rowan said in a statement sent to The Frontier.”
The announcer who made the racist statements is partially blaming it on low blood sugar. pic.twitter.com/6cTwIZdJZI
— Dylan Goforth (@DGoforth918) March 12, 2021
“I will state I suffer Type 1 Diabetes and during the game my sugar was spiking,” Rowan said. “While 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.”
And because he originally denied it was him, his co-host Scott Sapulpa had previously been blamed for this and was reported by name as the culprit. His decision, however to not denounce his coworker resulted in him to be placed on administrative leave by Hulbert Public Schools Superintendent Jolyn Choate as he’s also a football coach at Hulbert High School.
