Hot mic catches racist comment directed at high school football players

Racist comments being directed at high school football players were caught by a hot mic during a game broadcast last week.

The incident occurred during the broadcast of a high school football playoff matchup between Hawley ISD and Anthony ISD. At halftime of the 63-18 win for Hawley, a voice could be heard directing a racist remark at Anthony players over a hot mic.

Hawley ISD has fired an employee who was caught on a hot mic in the press box making racial comments about players from Anthony High School #txhsfb

🎥: IG/therealfitfamelpaso pic.twitter.com/UodBKo1H1d

— Texas Football Life (@txfblife) November 14, 2023

“Hey, you hear me?” the voice asked. “These guys are just pitiful to watch. They’re not very big. I thought they were going to have some pretty decent size, chalupa-eating bastards, but they’re pretty small, honestly.”

With the comment spreading on social media after the game, Hawley issued a statement claiming the unidentified voice was not an employee of their school.

“Our local announcers were not involved in the incident. We do not even have announcers that were recording in association with that camera link,” the statement from Hawley ISD reads. “The inappropriate comments were made by a spectator near the press box…I am certain that it was not our local announcers. They did not even have connection during halftime. Several individuals who were listening to that broadcast have confirmed that it was not stated by Bearcats announcers, and that our broadcast feed was dead during halftime.”

Later on Friday, the Hawley ISD superintendent said they were contacted by the person who made the racist remark and reiterated the individual was “not affiliated with Hawley ISD broadcast.” On Monday, the school district issued another update, confirming the individual was a Hawley ISD employee, but no longer works there.

“Late Friday evening, the individual responsible contacted the superintendent and admitted to making the comments while on a phone call with a family member,” the statement reads. “The individual was an employee of Hawley ISD but is no longer employed with the district. Our deepest apologies are extended to the communities who have been affected.”

The playoff game between Hawley and Anthony was played at Wink ISD. Wink’s superintendent told local NBC affiliate, KTSM, the on-site camera used to stream games on YouTube is automatically activated based on movement on the field, which could explain why the remark was heard on the broadcast even though the feed was assumed to be “dead.”

[KTSM, Texas Football Life]