Wichita State men’s basketball player Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler He is not happy with how his culturally significant name has been mocked CBS Sports broadcaster.
basketballer is half native American Oglala hails from the Lakota tribe and grew up on a reservation in Pine Ridge, South Dakota.
CBS Sports broadcasters Chris Walker and Chick Hernandez joked during their coverage of Monday’s Wichita State victory over Grand Canyon University that “Poor-Bear” was “Pooh Bear.”
When word got back to poor Bear-Chandler, he responded on Twitter.
“So it’s okay to make fun of my last name?” Poor Bear-Chandler wrote on Twitter. “Shows your ability to be serious in a professional setting. Just because my people were almost colonized doesn’t mean I don’t know where I come from!
Wichita State athletics also put out a statement Tuesday addressing the “inappropriate and insensitive comments.”
During the game, Walker said, “Who got that offensive rebound? I don’t even want to say that. I’ll let you name him because I want to be sure. Is it ‘Pooh Bear?’ Come on, you got to be kidding me.
Hernandez replied, “Isaiah ‘Pooh Bear’ Chandler is 50% Native American from the Oglala Lakota tribe, so he chose to use ‘Pooh Bear’ on his jersey,” he said.
“You know what, I love that. Shout out to Coach Isaac Brown for letting this happen,” Walker shot back earlier. doing a little where he compared the athlete to Winnie the Pooh.
Walker and Hernandez later made “apologetic efforts”, Wichita State said.
“Isaiah intends for this unfortunate incident to serve as a positive learning opportunity in support of the Indigenous community,” the university said.