An all-boys Catholic high school in Massachusetts has tendered apologies after some of its students chanted ‘You killed Jesus!’ during a basketball game against a school with a large population of Jewish students.
According to the Boston Globe, many people who attended the Friday game between Newton North High School and Catholic Memorial School were horrified and upset by the chanting.
Catholic Memorial President Peter Folan apologized on Saturday for what he described as ‘abhorrent behavior.’ He said the school ‘believes deeply that intolerance, of any kind, is unacceptable.’
During Friday’s game, which Catholic Memorial won 77-73, the fan section of Newton North taunted the Catholic school about not having girl students, shouting ‘Where are your girls?’
In response, the Catholic school students started the anti-Semitic chant.
Newton Superintendent David Fleishman, who said he found the behavior ‘chilling’, said as soon as the students started the chant, the interim principal spoke with Catholic Memorial officials, who put an immediate stop to it.
Fleishman and Folan both noted that the students were rebuked and that each student personally apologized to the principal.
The Boston Globe reported that Newton Mayor Setti Warren said he was ‘deeply disappointed’ by the chant.
The incident on Friday night also marked at least the third time in the previous month that high students made news for offensive cheers.
In February, a group of high school students was reprimanded for seemingly using the chant ‘Trump’ as a racial insult during a boys’ basketball game.
Friday’s incident also follows three incidents of anti-Semitic graffiti that were reported in recent months at FA Day Middle School, which are being investigated.
Earlier this month, ‘Burn the Jews’ was sprayed on the walls of a boys bathroom.
Source: Daily Mail Online
