‘We do not know who said it or saw what was going on to direct you to someone with knowledge of the situation,’ group president says
An Illinois fans group is “unaware” of racial slurs targeting Purdue University basketball player Trey Kaufman-Renn’s 13-year-old brother which were allegedly yelled from its student section.
Furthermore, the university has not responded to multiple requests for comment in the past week asking about an update on the investigation.
“There was some racist comments being said towards my brother, as well as my family being cussed out, stuff like that,” Trey Kaufman-Renn said in a post-game interview on March 7. He said his mom, girlfriend, and brother attended the game against the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “I just hope that the security, especially at Illinois, can be better.”
“I guess that’s all I have to say,” he told the press. He said it is something he would “fight” about.
“The fact that my brother can be put in that situation is really unbelievable,” Kaufman-Renn (pictured) said.
However, Purdue University will not be joining in the “fight” against the racist slurs – it told The College Fix it had no information to add when asked why it would not be filing a report about the incident. Sports Illustrated previously reported Purdue “does not intend to file a formal report with the Big Ten.”
Kaufman-Renn specifically said “a league like the Big 10…they need to be better.”
Trey Kaufman-Renn did not respond to multiple requests for information via his personal email. The Fix asked what specifically the racist comments were, what he is hoping the administration will do, and for additional comments. Purdue declined to provide public directory information for Renn, such as his phone number and school email address.
The Illini Pride Student Athletic Board was “unaware” of these racial comments. President Miranda Ochs said the group has no comments regarding the issue. The athletic board’s groups include the Orange Krush student section, the fan section for U of I basketball games.
“We do not know who said it or saw what was going on to direct you to someone with knowledge of the situation,” Ochs said.
The U of I athletic department did release a statement that night that stated: “Illinois staff was made aware of allegations of inappropriate comments made by members of the Orange Krush toward Purdue players, coaches and fans.”
“We take such allegations seriously, and we will continue gathering information to determine appropriate action. In the meantime, we have been in touch with Purdue to apologize and express our disappointment,” the statement read.
The UIUC media relations team did not respond to multiple requests for information via email and voicemail in the past weeks. Nobody in the media relations or athletics department answered the phone when called. The Fix asked for updates on the accusations and investigation.
A commenter on the video of Renn’s interview said the radio broadcasters did apologize for the “language” being picked up during the game.
Multiple racist slur accusations against fan sections have turned out to be false in just the past few years, as extensively covered by The College Fix.
For example, Duke University volleyball player Rachel Richardson claimed in Aug. 2022 that she and her fellow black players were repeatedly heckled with racial slurs during a game against Brigham Young University. “The slurs and comments grew into threats which caused us to feel unsafe,” Richardson claimed.
She would later change her story.
However, an exhaustive BYU investigation, including interviews with 50 fans in attendance and a complete review of all audio and video recordings available concluded there was no “evidence to corroborate the allegation that fans engaged in racial heckling or uttered racial slurs at the event.”
Similar allegations also fell apart against Pennsylvania State University fans in 2023, Guilford College the same year, and Illinois State University in 2024 (for an incident in Dec. 2023).
Allegations of racial slurs also fell apart several weeks ago at a New Jersey high school wrestling meet, as The Fix previously reported.
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IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Purdue University men’s basketball player Trey Kaufman-Renn gives an interview to Boiler Upload on March 7, 2025. Boiler Upload/YouTube
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