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Police Say Fan Banned By BYU Does Not Appear To Have Yelled Racial Slurs During Volleyball Match

The lone Black starter on the team said she heard a “racial slur” come from the student section.

Brigham Young University is currently investigating racial slurs yelled at a Black Duke volleyball player during a match last week.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, BYU Police Lt. George Besendofer said on Tuesday (August 30) that based on an initial review of surveillance footage of the crowd, the person banned from attending university sporting events wasn’t shouting anything while the Duke player was serving.

“When we watched the video, we did not observe that behavior from him,” he said.

Rachel Richardson, a sophomore for the Blue Devils and lone Black starter on the team, said she “very distinctly” heard a “very strong and negative racial slur” come from the student section during Friday’s match.

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“Various BYU Athletics employees have been reviewing video from BYUtv and other cameras in the facility that the volleyball team has access to for film review. This has been ongoing since right after the match on Friday night,” BYU Associate Athletic Director Jon McBride said in a statement, according to the Tribune. “The person who was banned was the person identified by Duke as using racial slurs. However, we have been unable to find any evidence of that person using slurs in the match.”

That said, another person could have possibly yelled the slur and has not yet been identified or had action taken against them by the Utah university. An investigation is still ongoing by BYU.

Tom Holmoe, BYU’s Athletic Director, is encouraging fans in attendance to share fideo and accounts from the match to help with the investigation and “have the courage to take a stand and take care of each other and more importantly the guests, our guests who we invited to come and play here.”

In a statement after the match, BYU said only that an individual “identified by Duke” was banned, according to the Tribune.

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