Oregon running back Noah Whittington gets past BYU defenders Saturday in Eugene. Gov. Kate Brown and UO officials condemned chants made during the football game directed at BYU and Mormons.
Oregon running back Noah Whittington gets past BYU defenders Saturday in Eugene. Gov. Kate Brown and UO officials condemned chants made during the football game directed at BYU and Mormons.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said called chants directed at BYU and Mormons during Saturday’s University of Oregon football game “unacceptable.”
“In Oregon, we strive to be a welcoming, inclusive state to all, regardless of race, religion, gender, or background,” Brown wrote via Twitter. “Our state and nation have an ugly history of discrimination and bigotry. The chant at yesterday’s Oregon-BYU game was unacceptable. We must do better.”
The University of Oregon and the school’s student section each issued statements apologizing for the offensive chants directed toward BYU by a small section of fans during Saturday’s game at Autzen Stadium in Eugene.
Multiple videos posted to social media late during Oregon’s 41-20 win over BYU show some fans in the Northwest area of the stadium, typically where a portion of the student section is located, shouting a vulgar anti-Mormon chant.
Multiple Oregon football players are also Mormon. BYU is a private university owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The videos were shared numerous times, including by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, who commented on Twitter: “Religious bigotry alive and celebrated in Oregon.”
Kris Winter, interim vice president for the division of student life at UO, said the school will investigate.
“The university apologizes for the despicable chants made by some University of Oregon fans at today’s football game with Brigham Young University,” Winter said in a statement. “There is no place for hate, bias or bigotry at the University of Oregon. These actions are simply unacceptable. We will investigate, and we call on our students and campus community to refuse to accept or tolerate this type of behavior.”
The Pit Crew, Oregon’s student section, issued an apology as well.
“To all @BYUfootball fans in attendance at todays game we would like to apologize for the actions of the students in attendance,” the organization tweeted. “We do not condone or support any hateful speech directed towards one’s religion and are ashamed of those who participated.”
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From a lifelong Oregonian very embarrassing that students representing a state university would act like this. I hope the people in the student section are identified and if they are students, they are punished for the poor judgement.
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I thought they were saying "Let's go Borman". Isn't he one of the running backs?
From a lifelong Oregonian very embarrassing that students representing a state university would act like this. I hope the people in the student section are identified and if they are students, they are punished for the poor judgement.
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Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.