Teammates, fans, NAACP defending Tyler Huntley after viral Tweet

SALT LAKE CITY — A Tweet about a post-game interview given by University of Utah quarterback Tyler Huntley is being condemned as racist and derogatory.

The Tweet, which has since been deleted, said:

“letting Tyler Huntley do a post-game interview on national television is not a good look for the quality of a Utah education”

The Tweet was posted by an individual with the Twitter handle @JT_Vaughan with the name James Vaughan.

The internet erupted after the post circulated. Fans and those who know Huntley quickly jumped to his defense.

Graduated in 3.5 yrs, honor roll, academic all conf. honorable mention… Extremely high football IQ, extremely high emotional intelligence, the kindest person and his WHOLE TEAM would run through a brick wall for him.

Your tweet is only indicative of your education level, sir. https://t.co/0zU8ChOb5e

— Britain Covey (@brit_covey2) November 3, 2019

The NAACP chapter of Salt Lake City issued a statement about the questionable Tweet:

“The Tweet made by James Vaughan after the University of Utah’s win over Washington, 33-28 Saturday was disturbing, racist and derogatory.

Vaughan’s statement does a disservice to Utah by showing his racist behavior by subtle referencing to race and intelligence as inferior education, achievement and literacy skills in speaking by Quarterback, Tyler Huntley. The NAACP Salt Lake Branch denounces Vaughan’s Tweet as wanting Huntley to do what we call as code-switching which is the concept where a Black individual must adapt to fit the expectations of White audiences to adjust his tone or speech. The tweet should have been more about Huntley’s excitement of the win instead of focusing on the interview.

There is no excuse for bigotry in our state or country.”

The account from which the Tweet was posted has since been deactivated.