BYU hit by fresh allegations of racist abuse from crowd at athletic event

Fresh allegations of racist slurs being used at a BYU athletic event have emerged, a month after similar claims involving the Duke volleyball team.

Five women’s soccer players from a visiting team told the Guardian they heard the N-word being directed at them and their teammates from the crowd during a game at BYU in 2021. Players had knelt for the national anthem to protest racial and social injustice when they say they heard shouts from the crowd.

“I just remember that there was like a consistent chant of ‘stand up, N-words’ during the anthem and right after,” one of the players told the Guardian. “And when brought to the attention of the BYU coaching staff there was no real response or sense of, like, alarm.”

She added: “I felt disappointed but not surprised. Backlash for kneeling was not new for our group but to hear that in person was shocking. I think both the fans and coaching staff knew we wouldn’t cancel the game after the incident, which once again shows this could be part of a bigger cultural issue within BYU as an institution.”

Four of her teammates independently confirmed to the Guardian that they also heard the chants.

A sixth member of the team did not hear the chants but says the BYU coach was told about them. The coach “seemed shocked and did ask” that “another announcement be made about how fans should behave”. The sixth team member said that an announcement warning fans about their behavior was then made but “nothing else was done to my knowledge”. Because players on the visiting team “wanted to continue with the game”, it went ahead.

The Guardian has withheld the identities of the sources at their request to protect them from reprisal.

“Your inquiry is the first time we are hearing this specific