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The video appears to show a South High player fall after a Andover player shoots a basket. Another South High player then appears to push an Andover player.
Worcester school officials addressed the “offensive comments” online connected to a girls high school basketball game last week, after local organizations called on city leadership to investigate the incident.
After a March 6 tournament game between South High Community School in Worcester and Andover High School, “social media posts emerged that depicted student-athletes in an utterly unacceptable manner,” Worcester officials said in a joint statement Thursday.
“These actions overshadowed the girls’ opportunity to celebrate their accomplishments and included hateful, racial comments directed toward South High’s players by adults and individuals not affiliated with either district,” the statement released by Worcester Mayor Joseph M. Petty, the School Committee, and Superintendent of Schools Brian Allen said. “The Worcester community stands united in denouncing racism in all its forms. We are deeply troubled by the recent rhetoric.”
The acknowledgement came after the NAACP’s Worcester branch and the YWCA Central Massachusetts both spoke up against the comments earlier this week.
“The young women of the South High School girls’ basketball program embody the spirit of Worcester with pride, discipline, and excellence,” the NAACP wrote. “As a community, we must take a firm and united stand to protect our young people.”
The NAACP said that “reports of fans threatening to call ICE on youth are abhorrent, dehumanizing, and completely unacceptable.”
“Many of us have experienced the damaging effects of racism and cyberbullying, and no one – especially youth participating in sports — should be subjected to such abuse,” the NAACP said. “This behavior cannot be tolerated and must be addressed immediately.”
What happened online?
A short video clip posted to Facebook captioned “When you can’t stop the freshman, you gotta resort to violence” spurred hundreds of comments and likes, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported.
The video appears to have been taken down, but a similar video showing the game with the same caption remained up on Instagram. Comments had been turned off as of Thursday evening.
The video appears to show a South High player fall after a Andover player shoots a basket. Another South High player then appears to push an Andover player into her teammates. The short clip had more than 2 million views Thursday evening.
“Typically naturally violent animals. Dear god bring back segregation,” one comment states. “Silverbacks learn at such a young age,” another racist comment reads. “Violence is what they know, it is genetic,” the comments said, the T & G reported.
Andover won the game against Worcester’s girls team, which reached the state championship in 2024 and 2025, the NAACP said.
In an online statement, the YWCA stood by the NAACP.
“Black girls were once again subjected to racist and sexist tropes that have persisted for far too long,” the YWCA wrote on Facebook. “These harmful stereotypes carry real consequences. They dehumanize, marginalize, and reinforce bias in ways that impact how Black girls are treated every day.”
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