Oklahoma State star running back Chuba Hubbard is demanding change. Hubbard responded to a tweet on Monday afternoon that showed coach Mike Gundy wearing a One America News Network T-shirt on a fishing trip last week, saying, "I will not be doing anything with Oklahoma State until things CHANGE."
"I will not stand for this," Hubbard said. "This is completely insensitive to everything going on in society, and it's unacceptable."
Hubbard and Gundy later came to an agreement that they shared via video on social media and the star running back followed up with a written message on Twitter on Tuesday, though Hubbard's teammates clearly had his back after his original message was sent.
Oklahoma State linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga, a fellow Canadian, shared the same sentiment in a tweet that read, "I stand with him!"
I will not stand for this.. This is completely insensitive to everything going on in society, and it’s unacceptable. I will not be doing anything with Oklahoma State until things CHANGE. https://t.co/psxPn4Khoq
— Chuba Hubbard (@Hubbard_RMN) June 15, 2020
Cowboys star offensive lineman Teven Jenkins said he and his entire unit stand behind Hubbard as well. Former OSU All-American Justice Hill and former All-Big 12 cornerback AJ Green, now respectively with the NFL's Ravens and Browns, also offered their support. Said Hill: "OSU Athletics and University needs major change." Star wide receiver Tylan Wallace said that Hubbard's decision is about "way more than football."
Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder commented on the boycott in a statement released by the school. "This afternoon has been very disturbing," he said. "The tweets from the current and former players are of grave concern."
Oklahoma State president Burns Hargis also released a statement on Twitter about the situation. "I hear and respect the concerns expressed by our Black student-athletes," he wrote. "This is a time for unity of purpose to confront racial inequities and injustice. We will not tolerate insensitive behavior by anyone at Oklahoma State."
OAN is considered a far-right leaning cable channel seen as heavily pro-Donald Trump.
Gundy has praised the network in the past for its reporting, saying in April that its coverage on the coronavirus was something he found "refreshing."
"They just report the news," Gundy said via The Oklahoman. "There's no commentary. There's no opinions on this. There's no left. There's no right. They just report the news."
Gundy's comments about OAN at the time were overlooked in part because of his controversial comments related to the pandemic and his own plans to push his players back onto campus because, he said, "we need to run money through the state of Oklahoma."
"The majority of the people in this building who are healthy and certainly the 18-, 19-, 20-, 21-, 22-year-olds that are healthy, the so-called medical people that are saying the herd of healthy people that have the antibodies may be built up that can fight this, we all need to go back to work," Gundy said, adding that, from what he had read, "the healthy people can fight this [virus]."
Voluntary strength and conditioning workouts at Oklahoma State were set to begin Monday. Players began reporting to campus two weeks ago.
Hubbard was a consensus All-American and one of the top running backs in the country in 2019. He led Division I with 2,094 yards rushing and returns in 2020 as one of the early frontrunners to win the Heisman Trophy. Ogbongbemiga was an All-Big 12 linebacker at Oklahoma State last season.
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