Tennessee House Representative Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby) tweeted an apology following a dispute with a school basketball referee. Faison’s apology was posted after videos of the fight, recorded at Providence Academy, was circulated by several news outlets.
“I acted the fool tonight. I’m hoping to be able to make it right.” Faison captioned the screenshot of the apology he posted on his Facebook page.
For years I thought how wrong it is when a parent loses their temper at a sporting event. It’s not Christian and it’s not mature and it’s embarrassing to the child have always been my thoughts.
Unfortunately, I acted the fool tonight and lost my temper on a ref. I was wanting him to fight me. Totally lost my junk and got booted from the from the gym. I’ve never really lost my temper for all to see, but I did tonight and it was completely stupid of me. Emotions getting in the way of rational thoughts are never good. I hope to be able to find the ref and ask for his forgiveness. I was bad wrong.
In the video (the original video was taken down from the Providence Academy Facebook Livestream), Faison was seen arguing with the basketball referee and then bent down quickly to try to pull the referee’s pants down but was unsuccessful.
According to NewsChannel11, a report was filed with Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA). In the report, after both teams were given technical fouls following a “scuffle,” Faison approached the referee and was told to leave.
The report said Faison replied, “You can’t tell me to leave the floor, this was your fault.”
The TSSAA has a section of their website focused on losing control at games and said “Spectators should respect the game and the teams on both sides. Again, it’s easy to lose yourself in the heat of a competition, especially when your child is competing. It is important to know that yelling unbecoming things does not inspire your child or your team, it embarrasses them.”
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Morgan Nicole Veysey is a reporter for The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow her on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Rep. Jeremy Faison” by Ncrawford604 CC BY-SA 4.0. Background Photo “Faison Attempts to ‘Pants’ Referee” by WJHL.Â
