Ole Miss: No Evidence Players Used Gay Slurs At On-Campus Play...

((HT: ESPN/Aschoff, Daily Mississippian))

And the HQ's reaction is: "Of course, they didn't..."

To recap...

There's a course at Ole Miss, much like Theatre 3000 that we took during our undergrad years, where part of your assignment is to go watch plays- and either write synopses (or "summaries..." for some of you) or answer test questions on what you see... It was an easy "A" course if you paid attention...

Ole Miss football players went to see a play called "The Laramie Project"- based on the 1998 murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard.

Here's the movie based on the play...


The Daily Mississippian, the university's student newspaper, reported that as many 20 Ole Miss football players were among an audience Tuesday. Play director and faculty member Rory Ledbetter told the newspaper that members of the audience were using homosexual slurs while the performance was going on and insulting the body types and sexual orientation of cast members. The behavior of those who disrupted the play made it difficult to even complete the performance.

The full report from the Daily is disturbing, but in today's age, not totally surprising... as, when the players went backstage afterwards, the apology caused two cast members to cry.

Adam Ganucheau interviewed one of the cast members:

“I am the only gay person on the cast,” junior theater major Garrison Gibbons said. “I played a gay character in the show, and to be ridiculed like that was something that really made me realize that some people at Ole Miss and in Mississippi still can’t accept me for who I am.”

On Thursday, the University apologized:

...we will meet today with the freshman student-athletes (from various sports) who attended the play and have a dialogue about what happened, about our university-wide commitment to inclusivity and civility, and about the important role they play in representing the university. It is clear that some students badly misrepresented the culture of this university. From there, we will work with Student Affairs and the Bias Incident Response Team to determine the facts and appropriate next steps.

The student newspaper also reported that Ledbetter said a member of the athletic department sent him an email apologizing for the incident.

Ole Miss theater department chairwoman Rene Pulliam told the paper that the football players were asked to apologize by the athletic department as well- yet, apparently, they didn't know what they were apologizing for- according to reports...

From the University:

The task of identifying specific individuals who were purported to have disrupted the performance is difficult because of the dark theatre, and initial reports vary in regard to the frequency, volume and source of the comments or disruption. Although initial reports indicate that student-athletes led the action, it is important to note that this has not been verified and they were not the only students present. Reports indicate that comments were made by student athletes and students but no report has singled out a specific student or mentioned any names.

So much for Creed Week, eh boys...???