Razorbacks athletics director apologizes to UK student journalist over cell phone incident

The athletics director at the University of Arkansas has apologized to a University of Kentucky student journalist over an incident in which a staffer knocked his phone from his hand after Arkansas’ loss in the Southeastern Conference tournament Friday night.

A brief video tweeted by Kentucky Kernel photographer Jack Weaver shows a Razorbacks staffer reaching toward the camera as head basketball coach Eric Musselman was leaving the court after Arkansas lost to Texas A&M 67-61 in the SEC quarterfinals.

Weaver wrote in the tweet that Musselman “left the court in a rage of f-bombs after losing to Texas A&M in the #SECMBB Tournament. His assistant then grabbed my phone and threw it at the ground.”

The video clip had been viewed millions of times by Saturday evening.

Arkansas Athletics Director Hunter Yurachek tweeted an apology Saturday afternoon, saying he had met with men’s basketball support staffer Riley Hall and others who saw the incident.

“Mr. Hall expressed his regret that while leaving the floor his engagement inadvertently resulted in kocking the reporter’s cell phone from his hand,” Yurachek wrote. “While, based on our discussion I do not believe there was malicious intent, I have addressed the issue with Mr. Hall and he agrees his actions were not appropriae or reflective of our program.

“On behalf or Mr. Hall and our program, I want to offer an apology to the reporter impacted by these actions.”

The UK School of Journalism and Media, UK staff members and others voiced support for the student journalist.

“The School of Journalism and Media considers harassment of any type against journalists reporting the news to be inexcusable and stands with The Kentucky Kernel in its response,” the school tweeted.

The Kernel, UK’s student newspaper, issued a statement late Friday night, saying it was “appalled by the actions of the Arkansas mens basketball program. Jack Weaver always embodies professionalism on the job and no journalist, especially a student journalist, should be subjected to violence for simply doing their job.”