A star athlete from the University of Portland has been kicked off the tennis team for making controversial remarks that were perceived as "violent" and "misogynistic” while emceeing an athletic awards ceremony.
While hosting the school's fifth annual Wally Awards, Goutham Sundaram, a senior, joked about his goal of getting "white women to sleep with brown men" and said his parents' migration to the United States would be "worth it" if he were able to "hook up with a white girl."
His teammates were reportedly laughing along with Sundaram, but not everyone was amused.
Fellow UP athlete and journalist for the university, Olivia Sanchez, penned an op-edin the student newspaper slamming Sundaram's comments as "violent" and "misogynistic." According to Sanchez, who is a senior on the rowing team, Sundaram's apparent preference for white women, who were framed as the pinnacle, was "racist." She also claimed his remarks overall perpetuated "rape culture" and made her feel unsafe.
The student journalist noted athletes and officials walking out of the event, just as she did, who were also offended by Sundaram.
Backlash hit Sundaram and UP officials after publication and the athlete was subsequently canned from the team.
Sundaram apparently opened the event by suggesting to the audience that he was going to make the stage his "locker room."
“Sundaram’s speech detailed his sexual pursuits during the last four years and explicitly stated that his main goal throughout college was not academic or even athletic, but sexual: to get white women to sleep with brown men,” described Sanchez in the op-ed.
“Go brown and turn your frown upside down,” Sundaram reportedly said numerous times. “Go French and your panties get drenched,” the tennis star allegedly said in reference to his more sexually successful French teammates.
"Gandhi didn’t fast for 20 days so that I could get to America and not sleep with white women,” he apparently joked.
The university issued the following statement regarding the incident: