You’ve heard the story before, an athlete on the court or sidelines claims they were called a racial slur, the accused are castigated and torn up and down online, an investigation is done, then the next race hoax has made the headlines. However, the damage has been done to the accused, and they are still perceived as racist by many who did not watch closely enough, or won’t let go of the hoax.

That is the case now with Angel Reese after the dust up with Caitlin Clark, and it was the case when Luke Hanson and I revealed at The Cougar Chronicle that Duke volleyball player Rachel Richardson was not called a racial slur during a game against BYU in 2022.

As a cofounder of the news outlet and graduate of BYU, I can tell you firsthand, the likelihood that you will catch someone yelling the n-word repeatedly on campus, as it was claimed by Richardson’s family, is slim to none. People turn their heads there if they hear students yelling profanity of any kind, let alone the racial slur.

However, the mainstream media, in both cases, as well as others outside of the situation, bought into the lie from the start.

In the case of Reese, an “anonymous source” spoke to the Associated Press about an investigation into racial slurs being directed at Reese from the Indiana Fever fans.

Based on the Associated Press report, ABC News, wrote in its headline: “WNBA investigates racial slurs by fans made at Angel Reese during Indiana game” without so much as a “:report” at the end of their headline. Generally, reports about accusations based on one anonymous source need to be hedged. The subtitle from ABC News stated: “Racial comments were directed at Reese by fans during the Chicago Sky’s loss.”

The false credibility spreads like wildfire, in media reports and online, whipping people into a frenzy over allegations later found to be unsubstantiated.

In the case of Richardson, her godmother, Lesa Pamplin, made multiple accusations that turned out to be entirely false, including that Richardson was “called a n****r every time she served” as well as that she was “threatened by a white male that told her to watch her back going to the team bus.”

Pamplin’s post at the time was shared by Lebron James, causing the accusation to go viral. BYU submitted to the pressure, banning the individual accused from any sports games after Richardson claimed he yelled the racial slurs.

Media harassed him for days, but that didn’t matter, until the school had their investigation completed about two weeks later (they knew very soon after the game that he was not yelling any slurs at Richardson).

The attitude from many media outlets fan the flames of these false accusations with their initial reports, refusing to place “allegedly,” or “reportedly,” in the case that the allegations may turn out to be false. Just believe it happened and don’t ask questions. That is often the attitude.

That is also how Jesse Singal, who is not a conservative by any means, in light of our report on the BYU Duke volleyball hoax in 2022, wrote a report titled, “How A Small, Conservative Campus Paper Did A Better Job Covering The BYU Volleyball Incident Than ‘The New York Times.’”

The Times, employing three reporters with the task, ran with the title, “Racial Slur During College Volleyball Game Leads to Fan Suspension.” No “claims,” “allegedly,” or “reportedly” in the headline. That and more is how one of the most acclaimed outlets in the world was bested by two college students with no reporting experience.

To this day, there are people who think that BYU is racist because of false accusations, so much so, that a left-wing professor at the college speculated over 6 months later that our report was influenced by university donors and that despite there being no evidence the slur, the “spirit of the room” tilted towards racism. The University of South Carolina also canceled their volleyball game with BYU over the incident, even after the allegations were proven false.

The same will be true for Indiana Fever fans as the story fades out of the headlines. As one user said on X, “The investigation didn’t turn up any racism, but Indiana Fever fans crashing out over the pride game suggests the presence of unabashed bigotry. And where you find bigotry you’ll also find racism.”

That is the anatomy of a race hoax: allegations with flimsy supporting evidence get taken up by the media in a frenzy with a desire to validate the allegation. When the allegations are proven wrong, institutions and individuals accused still get stuck holding the bag, still are branded as morally corrupt. And to top it off, the hoax lessens the credibility of racism when it does occur, which only further degrades race relations in the United States.