(PM.) Last week, Duke volleyball player Rachel Richardson, a black woman, claimed she was called a racial slur from the bleachers of an opposing team, BYU, during an August 26 game. As days pass, evidence is mounting that her claim is a fabrication.
On Monday, BYU alum and podcast Backseat Directors host André Hutchens, compiled a timeline of the events, writing, “What I’d like to do is map out these events and put together a timeline of the story, and then compare the allegations of what happened vs what actually happened based on available evidence. My only reason for doing this is to hopefully arrive at the TRUTH”
It has been one week since the Duke/BYU women’s volleyball game and nearly a week since allegations of racism from a BYU fan against Duke athlete Rachel Richardson surfaced on Twitter.
I’ve thought of little else since then…
Thread 🧵 incoming: pic.twitter.com/YTgCn1TLEP
— André Hutchens (@ac_hutchens) September 3, 2022
The controversy started with Richardson’s godmother, Lesa Pamplin, posting the allegation on social media. Pamplin, whose Twitter is now private, is a current political candidate running for Judge for Tarrant County Criminal Court in Fort Worth, Texas. Hutchens posted a screen cap of her original allegation which read, “My Goddaughter is the only black starter for Duke’s volleyball team. While playing yesterday, she was called a n*gger every time she served. She was threatened by a white male that told her to watch her back going to the team bus. A police officer had to be put by their bench.”
1. A week ago Saturday, political candidate @LesaPamplin tweets out allegations of racism that her goddaughter, Rachel Richardson experienced while playing a volleyball match vs BYU in Provo, Utah.
These are major allegations and should be taken with the utmost seriousness. 👇🏽 pic.twitter.com/Ap5aTIRqsj
— André Hutchens (@ac_hutchens) September 3, 2022
A history of Pamplin’s posts reveals a long history of racist comments that include, “you poor white motherf*ckers can’t take it,” “white women & men always disappoint,” “Would expect nothing less from a pale white chic. Sit down Becky,” and many similar remarks.
On August 27, BYU (Brigham Young University) released a statement saying they banned the fan that the Duke team claimed was shouting the slurs. Statements condemning racism followed from BYU’s athletic director, Tom Homoe, and BYU’s women’s volleyball coach, Heather Olmstead.
Official statement from BYU Athletics. pic.twitter.com/5bIwXNwr7J
— BYU Cougars (@BYUCougars) August 27, 2022
On August 28, the player herself, Rachel Richardson, releases a statement claiming she and all the African Americans on her team “were targeted and racially heckled throughout the entirety of the match.”
Hutchen’s points out that by then many establishment media outlets such as New York Times, NPR, CNN, and ESPN ran the story as “full truth” with no discerning curiosity of the incident as did celebrities like LeBron James.
Governor of Utah Spencer Cox, who has called Tucker Carlson a “white nationalist” and believes men should be allowed to compete in women’s sports, tweeted about the situation, calling the perpetrator an “a**hole”
On August 30, BYU’s Cougar Chronicle ran a comprehensive investigation that found the slur never occurred. They speak with an extensive list of people seated in the student section where the slur was alleged to be shouted and not a single witness said it happened.
7b. Their investigation called into question whether or not racist slurs were even uttered at the Duke/BYU game, as multiple students who were sitting in the student section said that none of them ever heard a single derogatory remark to any of the Duke players. 👇🏽 pic.twitter.com/MaOSufuk3Q
— André Hutchens (@ac_hutchens) September 3, 2022
