James Franklin: Penn State Football Is About Bringing People Together
By Stephen Douglas | Oct 08 2019
The Penn State Nittany Lions are 5-0, ranked 10th in the nation, and set to take on No. 17 Iowa in a primetime game on Saturday night on ABC. Yet the big story about PSU football this week is a letter junior safety Jonathan Sutherland received from a member of the alumni. James Franklin addressed the situation at the start of his press conference today. Here's video of Franklin reading his prepared statement.
James Franklin with an important and emotional message regarding a fan’s racist letter sent to PSU safety Jonathan Sutherland. pic.twitter.com/z2TFlWKs3m
— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) October 8, 2019
And here's the full statement:
James Franklin's opening statement today. pic.twitter.com/6oHRnUK8LK
— Ben Jones (@Ben_Jones88) October 8, 2019
The original letter was a real piece of work.
my teammate got this in the mail today, and tbh Im at a lost for words.. I also have locs, Tats, and NFL dreams too, these messages can not be tolerated, this was extremely inappropriate, racially biased, and selfish to feel like you even have a right to send this message #WeAre pic.twitter.com/DPTp9Km9yt
— ㅤ (@CjHo1mes) October 7, 2019
The 70-something Penn State grad who sent the letter doubled-down on his sentiments in a brief phone interview with The Tribune-Democrat.
Reached by phone on Tuesday, Petersen said making a racial or cultural statement "was not the intent at all. I would just like to see the coaches get the guys cleaned up and not looking like Florida State and Miami guys."