The University of Wisconsin Athletics has denounced the actions of a Wisconsin Badgers fan making slant-eye gestures toward the Northwestern crowd before being removed from Welsh-Ryan Arena during the Badgers’ 82-76 win over the Wildcats Tuesday night.
A TikTok video of a Wisconsin Badgers fan directing the slant-eye gesture at a group of Northwestern students in the Northwestern student section has gone viral. The fan gave the middle finger to the students before being escorted out of the arena by police.
Just saw this video on TikTok of this incredibly racist Wisconsin fan going at the Northwestern student fans.
Glad to see a Northwestern employee and a police office force him to leave. Do better people. Don’t be like this guy. pic.twitter.com/5noQ7XPqh9
— Xavier Sanchez (@Xavier_Sanchez4) January 19, 2022
“We are deeply disturbed by this behavior and we find it abhorrent and disgusting,” the University of Wisconsin Athletics said in a Twitter statement responding to the video. “This is no representation of what it means to be a Badger. We denounce any acts of racism or discrimination. We applaud Northwestern for removing this individual. His actions have no place at our events.”
Later Thursday, the university announced on Twitter that the fan would be banned from buying tickets to any athletic event through the university. The university did not identify him.
We join with @UWBadgers and all #Badgers in condemning the abhorrent anti-Asian actions of an attendee at the Northwestern game this week. We applaud NU for removing him.
He is no longer welcome at UW Athletics events – we are barring him from buying tickets on our platform.
— UW–Madison (@UWMadison) January 20, 2022
