The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga fired assistant football coach Chris Malone on Thursday for a highly offensive message he tweeted at Georgia politician Stacey Abrams, ESPN reported.
Malone posted the racist missive to Abrams after Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock won their U.S. Senate runoffs in Georgia against Republican incumbents. Abrams has fought against voter suppression and endorsed the two men.
“Congratulations to the state GA and Fat Albert @staceyabrams because you have truly shown America the true works of cheating in an election, again!!!” Malone wrote, per a Chattanooga Holler screenshot of the post before it was deleted. He appeared to be referring to a false and racist conspiracy theory pushed by Republicans that Abrams helped Democrats cheat in the 2020 election.
Abrams, the former Democratic leader in the Georgia House of Representatives who lost to Republican Brian Kemp in a 2018 bid to become the nation’s first Black female governor, did not immediately respond to a HuffPost request for comment through her voting rights organization, Fair Fight.
Head coach Rusty Wright said Malone’s comment was “unacceptable” and Athletic Director Mark Wharton called it “appalling” in statements posted to Twitter.
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