‘DISGRACEFUL’

High School Football Team Benched After ‘Slave Auction’ Video Surfaces

The clip allegedly shows members of the River Valley High School football team pretending to auction three Black teammates in a locker room.

The remainder of a California high school football team’s season has been canceled after several of its members were accused of participating in a mock “slave auction” that was filmed and briefly circulated on social media, according to Doreen Osumi, the superintendent of the Yuba City Unified School District. The video allegedly shows members of the River Valley High School football team pretending to auction three Black teammates in a locker room, pointing and yelling dollar amounts at the trio as they stand in their underwear against a wall, according to KCRA 3, which obtained a copy. The district received the video on Thursday, according to Osumi, and quickly announced that it would forfeit the next night’s game. By Friday, Osumi announced in a statement that the allegedly involved students had been suspended from playing the rest of the season. As a result, she said, the varsity team would be forfeiting the remainder of the season for lack of players. “They may argue that it was a joke, and they intended no harm,” Osumi added, “but the fact is that this is not only harmful, it is disgraceful.”