Clemson assistant coach Danny Pearman admitted last week to repeating a racial slur he overheard at a practice three years ago. On Monday, head coach Dabo Swinney declared that Pearman never directed the slur to any player.
"I would fire a coach immediately if he called a player an N-word. No questions asked," Swinney said in a 14-minute video statement.
"That did not happen. Absolutely did not happen."
Former Clemson player Kanyon Tuttle stated on Twitter last week that the team allowed a coach to call a player the N-word. Pearman admitted the incident involved former tight end DJ Greenlee.
Swinney said Pearman and Greenlee were participating in a drill when Greenlee first uttered the phrase that Pearman repeated.
"He shouldn't have done that. There's no excuse for even saying that, it doesn't matter what the context is. But there is a big difference, he did not call someone an N-word," Swinney said.
Swinney was also recently criticized for being photographed in a T-shirt that read "Football Matters." Some questioned whether Swinney was making a statement during Black Lives Matter movements across the United States.
Swinney said he's had the shirt for years and that any insinuation that he was trying to mock the Black Lives Matter movement is an "attack" on his character.
"I wholeheartedly support Black Lives Matter," he said. "In fact, I don't quite think that's adequate enough. I think black lives significantly and equally matter. To me, just 'Black Lives Matter' is kind of like, hey, we matter, too. I think black lives significantly and equally matter."
