Did Penn State fans use racist language during Rutgers basketball game? Investigation says no

After a brief investigation, Penn State Athletics confirmed that no evidence was found of racist slurs used by fans toward Rutgers men’s basketball players during Sunday’s game, according to an article from the Asbury Park Press.

The claim that members of the Penn State Athletics student fan group, Legion of Blue, used inappropriate language toward Rutgers men's basketball players originated from a screenshot of internal messages within a Legion of Blue group chat, which was shared on Twitter by photojournalist Noah Riffe.

The screenshot purports to show the Legion of Blue vice president Noah Odige relaying reports of curse words and racist language used by fans in the group. In the messages, Odige says this behavior has been reported to the proper authorities and is unacceptable.

Penn State Athletics confirmed that while foul language was directed toward Rutgers players, racist language was not used by fans.

"A deeper look into the matter today included conversations with (the) Rutgers athletic director and staff, reports from University police officers at the event and other game staff. Information was inaccurately conveyed to the Legion of Blue student group, which supports Penn State men’s basketball, and has not been found to be true," Penn State Athletics said in a statement to the Asbury Park Press. 

On Monday night, Legion of Blue released a statement on Twitter confirming the authenticity of the screenshots and stating that the student section did use inappropriate language toward the Rutgers players, but the language was not racist.

"While the conduct of the student section was far from appropriate, we would not tolerate racist language used by the Legion of Blue and other supporters," the statement read. "This is not who we are, and we would not stand for this conduct."