Hanna Strong, a soccer player at Syracuse University, was identified by local media outlets as a woman caught on video saying racist and homophobic slurs over the weekend. The college has suspended Strong, and there has been some reaction from former and current players.
Strong, a native of Monson, Mass., was seen in the undated clip calling an unseen person, assumed to be a Black man, slurs such as “f—-t” and “n—-r” she was being videotaped a smartphone camera. The school’s independent paper, The Daily Orange, was one of the first outlets to confirm Strong as the woman in the video, and the school promptly responded with a statement.
“We are aware of the offensive comments made last night by a member of the women’s soccer team. This type of intolerant and hurtful language, focused on both race and sexual orientation, is not part of the culture we seek to foster among our student-athletes and it has no place at Syracuse University,” Syracuse athletic director Daryl Gross said on Saturday.
Former and current Syracuse players chimed in on social media, including 2013-2014 NBA Rookie Of The Year, Philadelphia 76ers star, Michael Carter-Williams.
“I really feel like saying my piece in this SU topic but I might hold my tongue,” tweeted Carter-Williams on Saturday. Indiana Pacers rookie and former Syracuse men’s basketball player C.J. Flair also added comments. Atlanta Falcons rookie Marcus Spruill seemed to be sympathetic towards Strong on Twitter, but explained himself in a longer Instagram post.
It has been assumed the incident took place over the weekend, but that has not been confirmed.
Check out the video and player reactions on the following pages.
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Photo: Instagram
