Mike Freeman, a sports columnist for USA Today, is blasting doubters of the “racist heckling” that reportedly occurred during a Duke-BYU volleyball game last week even though an extensive investigation failed to find any evidence to support the claim.
In a long, drawn-out column Wednesday, Freeman accuses doubters of being racists and “right-wing conspiracy theorists” for being skeptical of Duke University student Rachel Richardson, who is black, and claimed that a man in the audience called her the n-word over and over again during the August 26 game between Duke and Brigham Young University (BYU).
That night, Richardson identified a particular man in the audience and accused him of being the heckler. BYU immediately removed the fan from the auditorium and banned the man for life.
#morethanavolleyballplayer pic.twitter.com/JJsofA6VgI
— rachel ♡ (@rachrich03) August 28, 2022
However, an extensive police investigation into Richardson’s claims failed to turn up any evidence that the man engaged in any yelling of racial epithets during the game. Police reviewed video that failed to show the man yelling anything and conducted interviews of fans in the crowd, and found no one backing Richardson’s claim that anyone yelled the n-word at Duke’s bench even once, much less multiple times.
But the wholesale lack of evidence was not enough for Mike Freeman, who took to the pages of USA Today to say he believes the Duke player and anyone who doesn’t is a racist who feels all black people are liars.
In his rambling attack on “right-wing conspiracy theorists,” Freeman insisted that it is not likely Richardson could be lying about being called the n-word because she is a sophomore majoring in neuroscience at Duke.
He claims that since she told her coaches, her teammates, her godmother, the police, and her father that very night about having the n-word hurled at her, then her story must be true.
Freeman did mention the BYU investigation, only to dismiss it as a lie peddled by the BYU police department, saying, “My guess is BYU will clear BYU of wrongdoing. They will bury this story because they have a vested interest in it not being true.”
“What the conspiracy theories essentially all come down to is one thing: no one heard Richardson being called the slur,” he explained. “The belief, suddenly, is that microphones pick up every word in the arena or student section. Or that cameras are all-seeing and knowing, like mini one-eyed gods.”
No, it’s all a conspiracy against a black woman, he says.
“My email inbox has been overwhelmed with this conspiracy theory. It’s grown across social media. The right-wing has spent extensive time promoting it,” he exclaimed.
But, while Freeman claims that doubters are the conspiracy theorists, Freeman engages in his own conspiracy theorizing. In his version, the BYU police are liars, the many members of the crowd are liars, and even mics and cameras are liars.
Of course, to his mind, the story is all about how all white people are racists.
“In many ways, this story is about race and how Black people have to constantly prove we’re not criminals or liars,” Freeman bloviated. “That we don’t commit mass voter fraud. Or that we get jobs only because of affirmative action. We have to prove, as Richardson does, that we heard what we heard. That we saw what we saw.”
“To many of these people, Richardson’s word doesn’t mean anything. She automatically cannot be trusted,” he exclaimed.
Rachel Richardson/Duke University
Worse, Freeman feels that “truth never mattered” for the people now trying to fact-check Richardson’s story.
“These are the same people who for five years ignored facts. They believe that Hollywood liberals eat babies. Or the Parkland students were crisis actors,” he said. “Or that JFK is alive. Or is it RFK? Something or someone with a “K” in it. They ignored the 30,000 lies told by the man they worship. They believed the Russia investigation was a hoax. That COVID was. That global warming is.
“But suddenly, they are now fact-hunters, combing over audio and video, searching for truth when before, the truth never mattered. These are the people calling Richardson a liar,” he added. “These are the people focusing their Scooby Doo forensic powers on a 19-year-old Black volleyball player who told a credible story of racial abuse.”
Of course, hurling the n-word is one of American society’s worst transgressions. What would Freeman have us do, though? Believe any claim that the word was used without bothering to verify the facts? Should we automatically ban fans based on nothing but a claim? Should we shut down universities and purge white people just on an assertion?
Freeman ended his piece reiterating his claim that a black woman who is a “sophomore majoring in neuroscience at Duke” could not be lying.
“So at this point, according to the conspiracy theorists, she’s lied to her teammates. Her coaches. The BYU coaches. The BYU athletic director. The police. Her godmother. Her father. The world because of her statement. ESPN. Then allowed her father to lie to a CNN audience,” he wrote, adding, “What’s more likely? All of that?”
“Or that she’s telling the truth?” he concluded.
Freeman’s argument is essentially, “Who needs evidence? Shut up and believe it.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, or Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston
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