I’m taking a group of 100 listeners to the Holy Land in November. And I want you to join our effort to Stand with Israel. Information is on my website at ToddStarnes.com.
Big trouble at Albany State University – one of the nation’s historically black colleges.
Football Coach Quinn Gray is under fire after he recruited a white athlete — Marcus Stokes — a four-star high school quarterback.
Turns out the young man was seen on a video singing along to a rap song which included a racially-charged word. One that we will not repeat on the radio or anywhere else for that matter.
Stokes had previously lost a scholarship offer from the University of Florida after the video first went viral.
He offered a sincere apology — and said he accepted the consequences of his behavior.
“I was in my car listening to rap music, rapping along to the words and posted a video of it on social media,” he wrote. “I deeply apologize for the words in the song that I chose to say. It was hurtful and offensive to many people, and I regret that.”
“I fully accept the consequences for my actions, and I respect the University of Florida’s decision to withdraw my scholarship offer to play football. My intention was never to hurt anybody and I recognize that even when going along with a song, my words still carry a lot of weight. I will strive to be better and to become the best version of myself on and off the field,” the teenager went on to say.
Coach Gray wanted to offer the young man a second chance — but he was fiercely rebuked by university officials.
“The president has made it clear that my actions did not meet that standard. It was never my intent to misrepresent what ASU stands for nor to ignore the rich history of this institution,” he wrote in a statement to Fox News. “My actions caused you to question my commitment to our institution and our ancestors.”
Long story short — Albany State rescinded the scholarship offer and the coach issued a formal apology.
Let me start with a humble apology. An apology for not honoring the tradition and history of ASU and for letting many of you down,” Gray said in his statement. “I didn’t uphold the Ramily standard that I know you expect. Please know that my decision to speak with a student that did not meet your expectations was unacceptable. I only wanted the best for our team, athletes, and institution when I invited the student to visit ASU. As I say to our players, ‘there is a consequence to every action.’”
“The consequences of my actions brought pain to our University. I was trying to help a student get back in competition, and in my haste, I did not consider the impact the decision would have on all of you. Frankly, it wasn’t my place to use ASU as the platform for redemption in this case. I regret that I used flawed judgment. If given the opportunity, I will do better.
Coach Gray
I can’t imagine a more cold-hearted and callous institution of higher learning than Albany State University.
A young man made a mistake. He confessed to that mistake. He accepted the consequences of that mistake. And their response was to shun this teenage boy.
I’d be curious to know how the university would respond if a black quarterback had been caught singing along to his favorite rap artist? I suspect we all know the answer to that question.
White parents — I want you to listen very intently to what I’m about to say. You need to find out what sort of music your kids are listening to. Police their playlist and remove any music that includes racially-charged language.
And you need to explain to your children that in today’s society your career and reputation literally be destroyed by a song on their playlist.