A University of Georgia baseball player was dismissed from the team Wednesday after being investigated for allegedly making racial slurs during the university's football game Saturday.
In a statement, the university announced that first baseman Adam Sasser was kicked off the squad. The slurs were directed toward Bulldogs quarterback Justin Fields, the university said.
Georgia football coach Kirby Smart addressed the situation Tuesday.
“If what I read and heard is true, it’s really unacceptable behavior that’s not who we are at Georgia,” Smart said. “We’re trying to build a program on tolerance and mutual respect. You can’t control what other people say, but the expectation is that people that are part of our program and come to our games share the same beliefs that we do. It’s sad that something like this would happen. I’m disappointed. But it doesn’t affect our family, our unit here and our kids have been great. It’s not something I’ve had to address with them. I’ve addressed it with Justin. That’s the most important thing.”
On Monday, University of Georgia student Klarissa Gulebian, who told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she heard the racial remarks, took to social media with the complaint. Using a Facebook public group page called "Overheard at UGA" as a forum, Gulebian, a junior from Lawrenceville, told the newspaper that her initial post had been deleted by page moderators so she posted it a second time and also shared it on Twitter. The second post remains on the page.
Gulebian was attending the game with her friends, Africa Buggs of Wisconsin and Sierra Buckner of Lawrence.
In a Twitter message, Buggs said Sasser was the offending party and that he was yelling, ‘Put the (N-word) in the game,’ throughout the fourth quarter.”
Last season, Sasser was one of Georgia’s top hitters. He batted .317 with 10 home runs and 44 RBI. He was a second-team All-SEC selection.
