Kasey Funderburg, a sports reporter for the University of Tennessee and Vol Network, has reportedly been sacked after alleged past tweets from 2013 and 2014 using racial slurs surfaced, the NY Post reports.
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UT did not provide a reason for the 26-year-old’s departure and her bio page has been deleted from the Vols’ official website.
OutKick reported that Funderburg was fired by UT after those tweets surfaced. She was 17 or 18-years-old at the time of the posts.
On Saturday, Tennessee wore “dark mode” black uniforms in their win against Kentucky to remain undefeated.
Last Tuesday, a popular Tennessee parody account on Twitter, that goes by the name “Richard G. West” tweeted, “All fans will be asked to wear black clothes and paint their face all black as well.”
Funderburg reportedly responded to the tweet denouncing the statement, which led to her past tweets being discovered.
“THIS IS A FAKE ACCOUNT and it’s disgusting that this person thinks putting out a joke like this is okay. Please don’t believe everything you read on Twitter,” Funderburg posted, according to Knox News.
In a separate tweet, Funderburg reportedly posted: “A person who thinks it’s funny to put out that Tennessee is asking fans to wear blackface is disgusting. This is where I stand.”
According to Knox News, other Twitter accounts then shared screen shots that showed racial slurs posted in 2013 and 2014 from a Twitter account that appeared to belong to Funderburg.
Funderburg’s Twitter and Instagram accounts are now private.
Funderburg graduated from UT before she became a full-time employee in the athletics department. She also served as an on-air personality for VFL Films and “Vol Calls,” which is a weekly call-in show for UT coaches.
A Change.org online petition calling for the Vol Network to “bring Kasey Funderburg Back” has garnered more than 1,000 signatures. The petition status is closed as of Tuesday morning.
This article originally appeared on the NY Post and was reproduced with permission.
