On Tuesday, Antonio Shelton, a Defensive Tackle at Penn State took to Twitter to post a picture of a letter that a fellow teammate received from Dave Peterson, an alleged alum of the university.
What We Know:
- The letter was written and addressed to Jonathan Sutherland who also plays defense for Penn State and wears his hair in locs. It referred to his choice of hairstyle as “certainly not attractive” and “disgusting”.
One of my teammates got this. Explain to me how this isn’t racist. pic.twitter.com/Qms1F6DEEP
— Antonio Shelton (@_groovy55) October 7, 2019
- Sutherland had three tackles and blocked two punts in the Nittany Lions’ 79-7 win, but the letter focused on insulting his appearance. Penn State is now 5-0 and ranked Number 10 in The Associated Press Top 25.
- The man went on to say “though the athletes of today are certainly superior to those in my days, we miss the clean-cut young men and women from those days”.
- In a statement posted on Twitter Tuesday afternoon, Sutherland called the letter “degrading” and “was indeed rude, ignorant and judging”.
- “Jonathan Sutherland is one of the most respected players in our program. He’s an ultimate example of what our program is all about,” Penn State Coach James Franklin told reporters on Tuesday. “He’s a captain, he’s a dean’s list honor student. He’s confident. He’s articulate. He’s intelligent. He’s thoughtful. He’s caring and he’s committed,” he went on to say.
Sutherland said he forgave the letter writer on Tuesday in a Twitter post and thanked fans for their support.
