Mississippi State football player Fabien Lovett is transferring due to coach Mike Leach’s controversial tweets.

On Wednesday (April 1), Leach posted a meme of an elderly woman holding knitting sticks. The caption read, “After 2 weeks of quarantine with her husband, Gertrude decided to knit him a scarf…,” except the so-called scarf was actually a noose, Clarion Ledger reports.

Leach, who was hired as the head coach in January, apologized for the tweet on Thursday (April 2). According to Yahoo Sports, a number of MSU players reacted negatively under the tweet that has since been deleted.

Lovett, sophomore defensive tackle, was reportedly upset by his coach’s tweet and responded to it by simply saying, “wtf.” He even retweeted a post by sports analyst Shannon Sharpe who brought up the racist history of the state of Mississippi. 

On Friday (April 3), Lovett announced his decision to transfer from the university on Twitter and play football elsewhere.

His father, Abdual Lovett opened up about the decision.

"I didn't feel comfortable with my son being down there with a guy like that from a leadership standpoint — that you can just throw anything out there," Abdual told Clarion Ledger on Saturday (April 4). "I feel if he can do it, the kids are going to feel like they can do it."

According to Clarion Ledger, one of the other Mississippi State coaches suggested he reach out to Leach, but he declined.