Duke’s ‘Grandma’ Chant After Opposing Team Player’s Loss Shocks

Duke’s “grandma” chant to an opposing team during a game this week has come under fire, and many have called the fans out for poor sportsmanship in the wake of the cruel taunt.

Duke’s “grandma” chant was aimed at North Carolina State player Tyler Lewis, whose 83-year-old grandmother, Margie Campbell Lewis, passed away last week after a bout with pneumonia.

According to the New York Daily News, Duke’s “grandma” chant came less than a week after Lewis experienced the trauma, while he played in the game against Duke. The paper explains:

“Lewis was shooting free throws in the beginning of the second half when a group of students began shouting, ‘How’s your grandma?’ according to an N.C. State sports reporter, a Wolfpack player and Lewis’ dad… Nolan Evans, an editor for N.C. State’s student newspaper who was at the game, tweeted that a “handful of dumb college kids” in the student section started the chant.”

Reaction to Duke’s “grandma” chant was generally negative across the web, and Lewis’ father remarked to press later that he’d heard fans had attempted to throw his son’s game off by mentioning the recently deceased woman.

Player Rich Howell, whose tweets are locked, criticized the behavior on Twitter in a repeatedly-retweeted reaction:

MT @rich1howell: He lost his grandma and y’all chant that? Cowards

— Pack Pride (@PackPride) February 8, 2013

The controversy over Duke’s “grandma” chant comes just a day after the school was embroiled in similar outcry over a party dubbed a “racist rager,” leading to the suspension of a fraternity.