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The University of South Carolina has apologized to LSU basketball star Flau'Jae Johnson after its arena DJ played a song by her late father during the Gamecocks' postgame celebration, NBC News reports.
On Friday (January 24), the South Carolina Gamecocks beat the LSU Tigers in a highly-contested match-up against two dominant women's basketball programs in Columbia.
During the Gamecocks' postgame celebration, DJ T.O. played "Cut Friends," a song by Johnson's late dad and rapper Camoflauge, who was killed in 2003.
Johnson, who is also a rapper, called the DJ's move to play her late father's song "nasty behavior."
"I’ll take my L on the chin, but this just nasty behavior. Nun funny bout that," she wrote Saturday (January 25) on X.
On Sunday (January 26), South Carolina issued a statement, apologizing to Johnson and calling the song selection "inappropriate" and "disrespectful."
“Her actions were understandably upsetting to Flau’Jae Johnson and her family and disrespectful to the LSU program and fans,” the university said in a statement. “Conference rivalries and passionate fan bases should only serve to enhance sports, not be used to target individual players personally. We regret that it came to that in our venue after a game that saw both teams capture the level of national attention that women’s basketball has earned.”
DJ T.O. also apologized for her song choice but said she had no ill intent. The arena DJ noted that she's a native of coastal South Carolina and grew up listening to Camoflauge, who was based out of Savannah, Georgia.
"I apologize for playing Cut Friends Instrumental at the game yesterday," she said in a statement Saturday. "It is never my intent to disrespect anyone or offend anyone when my job is to have fun and make sure other people have a good time. I’m from the Lowcountry/C-Port area so I’ve been playing it for years, even at other games, but I shouldn’t have played it at yesterday’s game. "
The university said DJ T.O. was suspended for the Gamecocks' next home game on Sunday (February 2). South Carolina also pledged "to provide further education on our expectations of her in the future."
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