Video shows fans at a New York high school basketball game make monkey noises when a Black player lined up to take a shot

• Video shows audience members making animal noises at a high school Black basketball player.
• The player was about to take a shot from the free-throw line during a game at Pearl River High School in New York.

Audience members at a basketball game made monkey and ape noises when a Black player stepped up to the line to take a shot.

In a video posted to Twitter, screeching noises can be heard in the background as the player begins to take a free-throw shot from the foul line during a game last week. According to The Journal News, students at Pearl River High School in upstate New York were among the jeering fans.

—RedHawks BBall (@NYACKHSHOOPS) February 10, 2022

Harrison Jordan, one of the team captains, told The Journal News that he had heard the noises coming from the crowd as the varsity basketball teams of Pearl River and Nyack High School, also located in upstate New York, competed on Wednesday.

"It happened three different times," Jordan said. "You hear it but you don't believe it."

Superintendent Eudes Budhai of the Nyack Public Schools district is launching a formal investigation, according to The Journal News. He has discussed the incident with Pearl River Superintendent Marco Pochintesta, the report says.

Both superintendents said they'd beef up tolerance and education programs. Students will participate in a "Better Together" program on March 4, Pochintesta said, according to The Journal News.

Pochintesta did not immediately respond to Insider's request for more information.

But in a statement to Insider, Budhai said that the Nyack School District and Board of Education "stand firmly and resolutely with our student athletes in the wake of the racist and reprehensible behavior displayed by members
of the Pearl River community."

Budhai said anyone who was "involved in this racist behavior" is invited to attend an anti-racism workshop for "an opportunity to learn and do better by our community and our athletes."

All student games and activities have security and staff present, said Terence Rock, the Nyack school board president.

"At some point, everyone recognized something was wrong," he said. "Why didn't any of them say, 'Stop, hey who did that,' and ask them to leave."

"Pearl River needs to let us know why that didn't happen," Rock said.

The incident was "somewhat surreal," Nyack boys varsity basketball coach Ethan Smith told The Journal News. Smith said the Pearl River staff in attendance could have put an end to the game or told the jeering crowd members to leave.

A similar incident happened in January when Pearl River was playing a game against another school, The Journal News reported.

"The first step is that Pearl River holds themselves accountable," Budhai said, per The Journal News. "We can help."