Cornell football coach apologizes for tweeting sombrero photo

A Cornell University football coach has been forced to issue an apology for the “cultural insensitivity” of tweeting a photo of two players wearing sombreros.

Cornell Football’s offensive line coach Roy Istvan came under fire for a tweet sent out Tuesday morning, now deleted, captioned “Eman & Fosta! THE BIG SOMBRERO!” with a picture of two football players each wearing a big sombrero.

The University retweeted Istvan’s tweet, and Istvan later apologized for the photos over Twitter when the attention sparked outrage among students.

“I am truly sorry for the cultural insensitivity and understand how our expression of pride came at the expensive of others in the Cornell community,” Istvan said in a Tweet.

Ivstan also explained the original pictures in another tweet, saying the hat is awarded to “team members who represent the best teamwork and winning spirit on and off the field.”

MEChA de Cornell, a Mexican heritage student group, posted the tweet on its Facebook page. Many students expressed outrage.

Other commenters did not buy into the tripe.

This isn’t the first time Cornell’s athletic department has run afoul of the cultural appropriation police. In the fall of 2013, a Cinco de Mayo-themed promotion for a Cornell football game was deemed insensitive, eventually leading to an apology from the athletic department.

This article was originally published in The Cornell Review, a conservative student newspaper affiliated with the Leadership Institute's Campus Leadership Program. Its articles are republished here with permission.

Follow The Cornell Review on Twitter: @cornellreview