Who is Kasey Funderburg? Reporter resigns after her old racist tweets as teenager expose her hypocrisy
KNOXVILLE,TENNESSEE: A University of Tennessee sideline reporter has quit after her old racist tweets, from when she was a teenager, resurfaced online. Recently Kasey Funderburg, 26, called out racists on air which eventually led to people exposing her racial slurs in her old tweets. Funderberg is a Sevier county high school and a UT graduate. She was a full time employee in the athletic department and she also worked as an on-air host for VFL Films and "Vol Calls," the well-liked weekly call-in program for UT coaches.
Funderberg reportedly called out a racist joke made by another Knoxville reporter, which ended up backfiring. One Twitter user called her a 'hypocrite' after she was exposed for the racist comments she made when she was 18 years old. According to a report by Knox News, UT did not specify the motive behind Funderburg's resignation, but OutKick reported that UT had infact fired Funderburg after her tweets were discovered. Her age when the posts were made was either 17 or 18. The Vols' official website has permanently removed her bio page.
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In response to a tweet by a parody account named 'Richard G. West,' that read, “Tennessee will be announcing Dark Mode for the 7pm matchup this Saturday against Kentucky. All fans will be asked to wear black clothes and paint their face all black as well." Funderburg criticized the tweet and called it out. “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, subsequently screen shots of tweets with racist slurs posted in 2013 and 2014 from a Twitter account that seemed to belong to Funderburg were shared by other Twitter accounts. Funderberg's social media accounts have since been made private.
However, not everyone is ok with Funderburg's resignation. An online petition on Change.org demands the Vol.network “Bring Kasey Funderburg Back," and, as of now, has about 1000 signatures. The petition was closed on Tuesday, November 1.