Jamaal Jarrett, the freshman defensive tackle at the University of Georgia, said he was “ashamed” as he apologized for blurting an anti-Asian comment during the NFL Draft last month.
The 4-star recruit from North Carolina made headlines on draft night after streaming himself making a racist remark toward an Asian man who was announcing the Atlanta Falcons’ No. 8 pick
“Jalen Carter, come on Asian. Ching chong,” Jarrett can be heard saying in the background.
“I feel ashamed by my actions that have caused tremendous hurt and pain, especially to those in the AAPI community, and I truly do apologize. I did not mean any hate or harm towards anyone” Jarrett tweeted on Wednesday.
The Georgia recruit’s comments circulated all over social media the following day — with one anti-Asian based Twitter account, by the name of Asian Crime Report, calling it “unacceptable and disgusting.”
At one point, some fans were even calling for him to be suspended from the team on Twitter.
“Over the past several days I have learned more about the AAPI community and the increased hate crimes that have been directed towards members of the community,” Jarrett said on Twitter.
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“The type of language I used is harmful, and there is no place for it anywhere.”
During the live stream, Jarrett appeared upset the Falcons went with University of Texas running back Bijan Robinson instead of his fellow Georgia defensive tackle mate Jalen Carter.
Carter ended up going to the Philadelphia Eagles, next, as the No. 9 overall pick in the draft.
Recently, it’s been a great time to be a Georgia Bulldogs fan — despite having to get through Jarrett’s slip-up.
Coming off back-to-back championships, Georgia fans saw 10 Bulldogs drafted by NFL teams in this year’s draft — following last year’s record of 15 selected.
The previous record of players drafted from one program was 14, which had been held by Ohio State in 2004 and LSU in 2020
Jarrett, who was nationally ranked 179th in the entire class of 2023, made his commitment to Georgia out of Grimsley High School in Greensboro, North Carolina.
