Basketball team suspended for “Coon” and “Knee Grow” on Jerseys
An Ohio middle school thought for some reason that it was acceptable not just to have a sexually suggestive name for its basketball team but to give its players racially insensitive names on the backs of their jerseys.
When Tony Rue went to a game on Sunday at West Clermont Middle School to watch the Kings recreational basketball league, he was shocked to see a team called the “Wet Dream Team.”
When he took a closer look at the team, he was even more shocked to find that the kids had names like “Knee Grow” and “Coon” on the backs of their jerseys.
“I couldn’t have made this up and had anyone believe me; I couldn’t have,” Rue told News 5 Cleveland. “You’re talking eight, nine layers of people and adults seeing these jerseys and thinking it’s just a joke.”
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How did no one notice this?
Joe Mallory, vice president of the Cincinnati NAACP, said that the team’s uniforms are being investigated. Like Rue, they want to know how so many adults saw the jerseys and the team name and let it slide for so long.
As for the league itself, they removed the team as soon as they were alerted to the problem with the uniforms.
“Kings rec basketball for grades 7-12 does not in any way support or condone the uniform infractions that occurred,” Kings division coordinator Charrise Middleton said. “We strictly follow and support the rules set out by [Cincinnati Premier Youth Basketball League] and fully support their decision to remove the team from play as well.”
The Wet Dream Team issued a non-apology statement through Middleton, saying, “We sincerely apologize to anyone that was offended by the jerseys. We offered to cover them up or change, however the league saw fit to remove us and we have accepted that decision.”
