'I feel sorry for him': Social media, community reacts to Bob Huggins' use of slur
CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Social media erupted Monday after a legendary college basketball coach used a homophobic slur on a radio show.
The moment the audio recording hit social media, West Virginia University Mountaineers head coach Bob Huggins was trending on Twitter.
All afternoon, users expressed their opinions on what happened in the interview and what should happen next.
One tweet reads, “Impossible to defend.”
Another questions whether or not the Naismith Basketball Hall-of-Famer will be fired.
Other tweets simply read, “I stand with Bob Huggins.”
They're all in response to what was said during the coach's conversation with Bill Cunningham on 700 WLW.
The clip that sparked the outrage surrounds Huggins' remarks while recalling a Crosstown Shootout moment against Xavier University.
The former University of Cincinnati coach said Xavier fans threw sex toys onto the court at a game.
"It was transgender night, wasn’t it?” said Cunningham.
“It was the Crosstown Shootout," Huggins replied. "What it was, was all those f**s, those Catholic f**s, I think, threw them.”
Cunningham went on to call Huggins "the best ever."
Former Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Seelbach, the city's first openly gay councilmember, says he's not surprised by the comments or by the fact that they were celebrated on Cunningham's show.
I feel sorry for him, he holds that kind of hatred for people that are different in his heart, because that’s clearly where it’s coming from,” said Seelbach. "I get angry because I’m a Catholic man, I am a graduate of Xavier, and I’m gay.
Seelbach says he believes Catholics in general don’t have the same views as Huggins and Cunningham.
“I want him to say that to my face, because there’s a lot of us who are taxpaying regular citizens who happen to be Catholic and gay who don’t appreciate it, and I don’t know if he would have the courage to say it to our face,” said Seelbach.
Seelbach says the fact that people continue to openly use this kind of language is part of the reason why young LGBTQ+ people are in danger.
"I’ve sat in the family rooms, holding hands of moms and dads who have just lost a child to suicide,” said Seelbach. “I know it’s because of this type of language, that people think it’s okay, that it’s funny, that it's a joke.”
Local 12 has reached out to 700 WLW and its parent company, iHeart Radio, for comment, but has not heard back from either.
