Why former Clemson player DJ Greenlee spoke up now about 2017 n-word incident
Former Clemson tight end D.J. Greenlee had moved on from a 2017 incident at practice involving an assistant coach’s use of the n-word. That was before a social media post Tuesday from a Tigers teammate brought things into the public eye for the first time.
With the heightened national discussion on racism in the United States, Greenlee felt like it was the right time to share his side of the story.
“I’m not gonna sit there and lie ... especially during this time,” Greenlee told The State. “All my teammates that know what’s going on, the reason they’re hitting me up is, they’re like, ‘Man, for you to have to come out and say that because we know what you actually dealt with, it takes a real man to deal with that.’ ”
Clemson assistant coach Danny Pearman apologized privately to Greenlee about the racial slur three years ago. Pearman issued a public statement of apology late Tuesday.
“Three years ago on the practice field, I made a grave mistake involving D.J. Greenlee,” Pearman said in the statement.
The incident was never discussed in a team meeting, players said. Pearman was not punished in 2017, a school official told The State on Wednesday. No action has been taken by Clemson since the incident was brought to light, and the school has issued no further comment.
Greenlee, whose father is the assistant director of strength and conditioning for the Clemson football team, added that he has no opinion on what punishment, if any, Pearman should face for the remark.
“I’m not going to be the type of person who sits here like, ‘He needs to get fired.’ Coach Pearman has changed some guys’ lives. We just didn’t see eye-to-eye,” Greenlee said. “As far as me trying to come back and make this some big deal and try to get the man fired, that’s not what I’m here for.”
What Greenlee was up for was clarifying what exactly happened.
He was hiking in Arizona on Tuesday when he received word that a social media post regarding the 2017 incident was garnering lots of attention. (It now has more than 40,000 interactions). He had already talked with head coach Dabo Swinney about things Tuesday by the time The State reached Greenlee for comment.
Former Clemson receiver Kanyon Tuttle, the son of Tigers legend Perry Tuttle, tweeted about the incident because of his displeasure with Swinney’s Monday comments about the death of George Floyd in Minnesota. Floyd died last week after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes.
Tuttle was among those who thought Swinney’s stance concerning racism wasn’t strong enough.
“You allowed a coach to call a player the n-word during practice with no repercussions. Not even a team apology,” Tuttle posted to Twitter.
Greenlee clarified that Pearman did not call him the n-word, saying he used it in a heated practice discussion moments after Greenlee first used the word.
“He was repeating what I just said. He’s like, ‘n-word this, n-word that,” Greenlee recalled.
For his part, Pearman said, “What I overheard, I had no right to repeat.”
Swinney spoke with Pearman about the incident, according to a statement released Tuesday night. And Pearman apologized to Greenlee that day and several times the rest of the 2017 season.
Still, it “didn’t do the justice for (Pearman) saying it,” according to Greenlee.
Greenlee explained that he moved on from the 2017 incident when it happened and put his focus on finishing out his final season strong. With that said, it also changed his relationship with Clemson’s coaching staff.
“It was my last year so I was like, ‘Man, it’s been a hell of a ride. I’ve enjoyed everything. I wouldn’t take it back for nothing.’ But when that happened I was like, ‘All right, now I really know this is how it’s going to be,” he recalled of his feelings at the time.
The incident happened in November 2017 before the Florida State game, Greenlee said. The Tigers lost to Alabama in the College Football Playoff two months later.
Greenlee, who played at Clemson from 2013-17, said that “legitimately a bunch of guys” reached out to offer support for him being willing to address the issue honestly. That’s something he appreciated.
“There’s people that I wouldn’t even have expected,” he said, “but then again, I’ve got my circle of guys that I came to Clemson with that know everything. I’ve been talking to them all day.”
One of the former teammates Greenlee talked to was Tuttle. The two discussed Tuttle’s decision to share the tweet and Greenlee’s decision to talk about it.
“I feel like after talking to Kanyon, I don’t blame him for saying this whole situation. I don’t think he knew that I had already dealt with it in my own way, but then again I can’t blame him because coach Swinney never came and said nothing to the team,” Greenlee said. “Everybody on the team, if you ask anybody on the team, they’ll tell you what happened. We never actually had like a formal team meeting where coach Swinney would’ve talked about that situation and let them know everything.”
Tuttle followed up his first remarks with another Twitter post.
“Don’t think I don’t respect Coach Swinney. He is not a terrible person by any means,” Tuttle tweeted late Tuesday. “But he needs to do better than this. All the black athletes that helped you get where you are, you can do better to show them you really have their best interest at heart.”
And Greenlee released his own statement Wednesday afternoon saying that he’s ready to move on for good.
“I’d like to address the recent reports that have come out due to a former teammates comments on Twitter. Yes, an incident did and occur and was immediately taken care of by coach and I,” Greenlee said. “That situation was discussed internally but may not have been addressed properly with my teammates at the time. I’ve put that situation behind me since that day and will have no further comment on it. Go Tigers — DJ”
This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 7:05 PM.
