A New Jersey high school referee has been suspended after a video recently went viral that appears to show him ordering a student to cut his hair in order to participate in a wrestling match.
After the orders, the student, a young black man named Andrew Johnson, had his dreadlock-style hair cut by a school official — and then proceeded to win the wrestling match.
The referee is a white man named Alan Maloney.
The high school in question is Buena Regional High School in Buena, New Jersey.
Mahoney told Johnson his hair was against regulations and that he would need to have his hair cut it in order to wrestle, according to local media.
Video of the exchange began making the rounds on social media on Friday. Many said Mahoney’s call about the student’s hair was racist.
“Even if the hair didn’t meet regs, parents needed to be notified and the haircut should have been private. Handled wrongly on so many levels!” wrote one Twitter user in response to the news.
Another said, “Not enough [that the referee was suspended]. Needs to be fired.”
Yet another said, “Assault charges are appropriate.”
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) even weighed in on the situation on Twitter.
“Deeply disturbed that Andrew Johnson, a student at Buena Regional H.S., was forced to choose between keeping his dreadlocks and competing in a wrestling tournament. No student should have to needlessly choose between his or her identity & playing sports.”
Larry White, executive director of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA), the state’s high school sports governor body, said the incident is being investigated by the New Jersey Civil Rights division; Mahoney is suspended from refereeing wrestling matches at least until the investigation is complete.
“NJSIAA can confirm that those groups that assign high school wrestling referees in New Jersey will not assign the referee in question until this matter has been thoroughly reviewed,” White said in a public statement. “This will help to avoid disruption of events for student athletes.”
Unfortunately, Mahoney’s past has only added fuel to this racism-charged fire.
Back in March of 2016, he was accused of using a racial slur during an argument at a match, according to New Jersey’s Courier Post.
Mahoney was arguing with another referee, a black man, when he used the N-word during an exchange.
The black referee, named Preston Hamilton, told the Courier Post that Mahoney eventually apologized for his behavior.
Hamilton said he slammed Mahoney to the ground after his use of the N-word and he reported the referee to the New Jersey Wrestling Officials Association.
Mahoney returned to refereeing in September of that same year.
“It was two men, a group of guys, having fun and it was just a slip-up,” Maloney said about the incident to the Courier Post in 2016. “If you can’t see past that, then I don’t know what to say. I made a mistake and I apologized for it. And it was accepted.”
The mother of wrestler Andrew Johnson witnessed the cutting of her son’s hair — and spoke publicly about the experience on Facebook.
Rose Santiago-Johnson said watching her son’s hair get cut before the match was the “hardest thing” she had ever seen, the New York Post reported.
She added that the experience was “brutal emotionally and physically” for her son — but that he is “good now.”
See video of the incident below:
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