Former Clemson player details N-word incident. Assistant coach issues apology
Former Clemson tight end D.J. Greenlee told The State on Tuesday that Tigers assistant coach Danny Pearman used the n-word in speaking to Greenlee at a practice one day during the 2017 season.
Pearman “apologized the rest of that season,” Greenlee said. And the Clemson assistant coach issued a statement of apology Tuesday night, calling his remarks to Greenlee a “grave mistake.”
“It was wrong when I said it, and it is wrong today,” Pearman said in his statement.
Pearman is white, and Greenlee is black.
News of the incident first came to light on social media earlier Tuesday from Kanyon Tuttle, a former walk-on receiver at Clemson. In response to Dabo Swinney’s Monday comments about social injustice and George Floyd’s death in Minnesota, Tuttle on Twitter said: “You allowed a coach to call a player the N-word during practice with no repercussions. ... I will never understand why it was never addressed.”
Greenlee, who played at Clemson from 2013-17, was reached by phone while he was in Arizona on Tuesday.
“He wasn’t saying that I was a n-word,” Greenlee said.
Greenlee told The State that he was speaking with former teammate and fellow tight end Milan Richard during a 2017 practice following a play when the incident occurred. Pearman thought Greenlee had missed a block during a rep and “was being a coach at the time and he was just trying to figure out what was going on.”
After Pearman and Greenlee spoke about the play, Greenlee was asked by Richard about it, according to Greenlee.
“(Milan) was asking me what happened? ‘What’s coach getting on to you about?’” Greenlee recalled. “I was just like, ‘Man I got the (n-word) that came in my gap.’ I was talking to my teammate. That was all that was said. Then the next thing you know coach Pearman starts coming over there. He was repeating what I just said. He’s like, ‘(n-word) this, (n-word) that. The (n-word) wasn’t there.’”
Greenlee said he spoke with Swinney about the incident on Tuesday.
That practice exchange happened in front of the entire team, Greenlee recalled. He added that he spoke with Swinney about the incident in a post-practice meeting to voice his concerns over what was said.
“I went and spoke with coach Swinney. Coach Swinney, basically he was like, ‘First off we shouldn’t be using that language anyway.’ OK, that was beside the point. I was trying to figure out why (Pearman) felt the need to come over there and get in the conversation in the first place,” Greenlee said. “Coach Swinney went on saying how he was going to meet with coach Pearman after he spoke with me. I took his word for that. He probably spoke to him.”
Greenlee said he was eventually able to accept Pearman’s apology.
“From there on forward, coach Pearman apologized, yeah. The whole team, everybody knew this. I was that one guy that was like, ‘Well, I see what I’m dealing with.’ I just handled it and said I’ll go on. I’m not going to hold a grudge on nobody. It is what it is. He said it. He apologized. But it still didn’t do the justice for him saying it.”
Pearman is currently the assistant head coach, tight ends coach and special teams coordinator for the Tigers.
In a statement Tuesday night, Pearman said:
“Three years ago on the practice field, I made a grave mistake involving D.J. Greenlee. I repeated a racial slur I overheard when trying to stop the word from being used on the practice field. What I overheard, I had no right to repeat.
While I did not direct the term at any player, I know there is no excuse for me using the language in any circumstance. I never should have repeated the phrase. It was wrong when I said it, and it is wrong today.
I apologized to D.J. at the conclusion of practice, who then appropriately raised his concern to Coach Swinney. Coach and I met to discuss the incident, and he reiterated that my language was unacceptable. I later apologized again as well as expressed my sincere regret to our position group the following day.
I love the young men who choose to come to our university, and I would never do anything to intentionally hurt them. I sincerely apologize to D.J., his family, our team and our staff.”
Swinney on Monday joined other coaches from around the country in speaking out against racism during a conference call with reporters. It was his first public comments since Floyd died last week in Minnesota after a police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.
“I know that we are all hurting for the Floyd family and our country,” Swinney said. “I can speak for our entire staff and our entire team in that regard, for sure. We have all witnessed just disgusting acts of evil. That’s really the only word I can appropriately use over the past recent week here and beyond.”
This story was originally published June 2, 2020 at 5:31 PM.
