Internet, meet Hanna Strong, a Syracuse University soccer player and the latest person to use slurs in front of a camera. In the undated video below, an angry-seeming Strong tells a black guy, “If you touch me, it will be over,” before turning her attention to the person videotaping her. “Are you recording this? You faggot ass nigger. It’s bullshit.”
After getting a “whoaaaa” from the crowd, Strong continues, “Call me out on saying the n-word? I don’t give a shit.” Then, perhaps realizing that she has revealed herself to be a bigot and screwed up her whole life, she whines, “Don’t record me saying this! Don’t record me saying this!” Of course, it was too late.
The New York Daily News reports that Syracuse’s women’s soccer coach, Phil Wheddon, suspended the midfielder from his team after seeing the footage. Meanwhile, the school’s athletic director, Daryl Gross, issued this statement: “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 Athletics, as a strong and diverse part of this University community, has zero tolerance for these actions.” Strong is now also the subject of investigations by Syracuse’s Department of Public Safety and its Title IX office.
What’s the lesson here? The same one as always: Don’t be terrible.