An Alabama cheerleading coach who wore a KKK t-shirt to cheerleading practice has since resigned over the controversy.
Brian McCracken, the team’s assistant vice president, showed up to a North Alabama Youth Football & Cheerleading League practice in Boaz wearing a shirt that bore the image of a Klansman wearing a white hood with a cross burning in the background along with the words “the original boys in the hood,” reports WAFF-TV. His friend, Brian McDowell, also attended practice wearing a “white pride” tee shirt.
Although both men later claimed that the shirts were meant as a joke, volunteer coach Kayleigh Tipton said that it was much more, pointing out that she lost her position after she complained about their attire.
“It’s awful,” Tipton told the station. “I mean, I don’t understand it. I don’t want my kids around it. No one I know wants their kids around anything like that.”
Commissioner Kenny Jones eventually stepped in to handle matters after receiving a complaint from Tipton.
“We ended up taking care of the situation,” Jones said. “We informed the parents they are no longer allowed to wear that type of shirt to any NAYF functions. We have zero tolerance for any kind of discriminatory apparel or anything.”