Tennessee Lawmaker Attempted to ‘Pants’ Referee During HS Game

January 12, 2022 / Athletic AdministrationBasketballCoaching
A Tennessee House Republican has apologized after trying to fight and pants a referee at a high school basketball game.

Rep. Jeremy Faison apologized for the incident in a tweet on Tuesday. “I acted the fool tonight. I’m hoping to be able to make it right,” Faison said.

tennesseeProvidence Academy, a private religious school, livestreamed the boys basketball game against Lakeway Christian Academy, another private religious school, on Tuesday. Faison’s son is on the Lakeway team, the Associated Press reported.

According to a story from Insider.com, Faison was sitting in the stands during the third quarter when a loose-ball foul was called and the two teams engaged into a small scuffle, the video shows.

Video recordings of the livestream show Faison on the court. As referee the tells him to leave, Faison continues to engage in conversation.

“You can’t tell me to leave the floor this was your fault,” Faison said, according to Insider.com.

Faison is then seen grabbing the referee’s pants and attempting to pull them down.

Faison said in a social media post he’s always believed it was wrong “not Christian” and “not mature” when parents lose their temper at games.

“I was wanting him to fight me. Totally lost my junk and got booted from the gym. I’ve never really lost my temper but I did tonight and it was completely stupid of me,” Faison said. “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.”

To read the full article from Insider.com about the Tennessee state representative pantsing a referee during a high school basketball game, click here