Incoming Cornell football recruit Nate Panza has reportedly been removed from the roster after saying a racial slur on video.
A video was tweeted out by @SommerHeyman of Panza saying “f**k that n*gga” as one of his friends smoked a cigarette. It appears the video was ripped off of a Snapchat account. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
You can watch it below.
guy with no shirt is Nathan Panza @MorristownBeard & is going to Cornell @Cornell in the fall (‘24) and the guy behind the camera is Adam Giaquinto & is going to Richmond @richmonduni in the fall (‘24). both @MorristownBeard graduates !! pic.twitter.com/DMd6uZeQfu
— som (@SommerHeyman) June 21, 2020
According to The Cornell Daily Sun, Panza will no longer be playing football for Cornell in the fall. His social media accounts have also been nuked.
Panza released the following statement to the Daily Sun:
A video was taken of me using a word that is offensive and hurtful. The word has a long history of cruelty for the black community and is simply wrong. I am heartbroken I have hurt people; those I know and those I do not. I take full responsibility for my actions. I do not believe that my language that night aligns with who I have tried to be as a person, the values I live by or the manner in which I have conducted myself as an athlete. My immediate reaction to the video was to reach out to my entire high school community to offer my sincerest apologies.
There’s two quick things to point out here. First and foremost, Panza has to be much smarter than he appeared to be in that video.
You simply can’t be dropping n-bombs in 2020, and expect there to be no consequences if it’s caught on video.
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Tensions in America are at the worst they’ve been in a long time after the death of George Floyd, and Cornell has every right to not want a person with this kind of baggage on their team. Oregon State also recently removed a player after a video of racist comments circulated social media.
The precedent has been set for players to lose roster spots over stuff like this.
The Oregon State football program has parted ways with tight end Rocco Carley. The news comes shortly after a troubling audio clip surfaced with the voice of Carley going on an incredibly vile, racist rant. pic.twitter.com/gKSbb6xfcC
— FME Pictures (@fmepictures) June 4, 2020
Having said all of that, do we really need to ruin the life of a kid who just graduated high school over a very dumb comment?
Again, it’s unacceptable, wrong and he shouldn’t have said it. We’re all in agreement on that. Should he also be banned from ever playing college football?
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I’m not sure that helps advance society or educates anyone.