One Tennessee state legislator lost his head in a high school basketball game this week and was kicked out of the gym after trying to pull down the referee’s pants.
Later, State Representative Jeremy Faison was forced to issue a public apology and admitted that he simply “lost my junk.”
The legislator drew the cameras Tuesday when he stormed onto the court at a Providence Academy game in Johnson City, furious over an unsportsmanlike conduct technical foul called by the referee.
“You can’t tell me to get off the court, this was your fault,” Faison snapped at referee Paul Pendleton, before turning around and trying to remove the official’s pants.
The lawmaker was expelled from the gym after the third-quarter incident, and police were subsequently called to the scene, The Tennessean newspaper reported.
It didn’t take long for the red-faced Faison to issue a mea culpa on Twitter, admitting that he “acted like a fool” during the incident.
“For years I thought how bad it is when a parent loses his temper at a sporting event,” he tweeted. “He is not Christian and he is not mature and he is shameful for the child, they have always been my thoughts.
“Unfortunately, I played dumb tonight and lost my temper with a referee,” he wrote. “I wanted him to fight me. I completely lost my trash and got kicked out of the gym.
“I’ve never lost my temper, but I did tonight and it was completely stupid of me,” he said.
Emotions that get in the way of rational thinking are never good. I hope I can find the referee and apologize. I was too bad”.
It’s unclear if Faison has yet apologized to Pendleton, but the referee filed a complaint against the legislator with the Tennessee High School Athletic Association, which is still pending, according to the Tennessean.
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