On Sunday, a stir rippled across the stands at West Clermont Middle School as the Kings recreational basketball team were called racist and sexist and were removed from the League soon after the controversy. However, West Clermont team parent Tony Rue wants to know why the Cincinnati Premier Youth Basketball League took three weeks to decide between kicking the Kings team out of the League.
Rue said that Kings Jerseys had veiled racial slurs that offended several people at the stands. The Kings were playing a game at the School on Sunday when few of the parents of the opposing team West Clermont at the stands noticed the Kings players wearing jerseys that they found inappropriate and disturbing. On one side of the jersey, the team name “Wet Dream Team” was printed which few of the parents considered being a sexually suggestive name. In the backside, instead of the real names of the players, at least three of the jerseys had the names “Coon” and “Knee Grow” printed.
Rue said, “It’s a racial thing. It’s a bullying thing. It’s everything wrapped into one.” Rue’s son plays on the West Clermont team that was also present at the ground on Sunday. He further said that the Kings wore the offensive jerseys in three or four earlier games. The League officials shut down the game soon after the whole incident took place and dismissed the team from the League.
The vice president of the Cincinnati NAACP, Joe Mallory said that his organization are looking into the matter and will be sitting down with the League to discuss the incident.
Mallory said, “This is a teachable moment for them to understand how these words are hurtful. They’re inflammatory, and they’re divisive to the entire community.”
King’s division coordinator, Charrise Middleton said in a statement on Monday that the team the team was immediately removed from the League once she came to know about the jerseys. That team will not be returning to play in this season, she further said.
