Someone at an Ohio middle school recreational basketball league thought it would be funny to give the team a sexually suggestive name with thinly veiled racial slurs on the backs of the kids’ jerseys, and now the team has been suspended for the rest of the season.
Tony Rue attended a game at West Clermont Middle School on Sunday to watch the Kings recreational basketball league, which includes players from grades 7-12. He was surprised to see a team named “Wet Dream Team,” but some of the players also had names like “Knee Grow” and “Coon” on the backs of their jerseys. Rue couldn’t believe that no adult thought any of this was inappropriate before Sunday’s game.
“I couldn’t have made this up and had anyone believe me; I couldn’t have,” Rue told News 5 Cleveland. “You’re talking eight, nine layers of people and adults seeing these jerseys and thinking it’s just a joke.”
Joe Mallory, vice president of the Cincinnati NAACP, told the news site that his organization is investigating and wants to sit down with the league to find out how this happened.
“Kings rec basketball for grades 7-12 does not in any way support or condone the uniform infractions that occurred,” Kings division coordinator Charrise Middleton said, noting that the team was removed as soon as she learned about the offensive uniforms. “We strictly follow and support the rules set out by [Cincinnati Premier Youth Basketball League] and fully support their decision to remove the team from play as well.”
The coach of the Wet Dream Team issued a tone-deaf nonapology apology because he allowed this bullshit in the first place.
“We sincerely apologize to anyone that was offended by the jerseys,” the coach’s statement, which was issued through Middleton, said. “We offered to cover them up or change, however the league saw fit to remove us and we have accepted that decision.”
Read more at News 5 Cleveland.