Now and then, politics can just get downright ridiculous. It’s important to remember politicians are human, and just like all of us, they sometimes do very stupid things.
The latest example comes out of Tennessee, where a Republican state representative by the name of Jeremy Faison made an absolute fool of himself.
The incident occurred at a high school basketball game, where Faison was overseeing his son’s sport against a rival team. The game didn’t go the way he was hoping, and Faison completely lost his crap.
Here’s what happened…
High School Basketball Game Gets Wild
Faison’s son plays for a school called Lakeway Christian, which is located in White Pine, a town about half an hour east of Knoxville.
In any case, Lakeway was playing an away game in Johnson City, Tennessee against a local team called Providence Academy when the incident happened.
Faison became outraged when the game wasn’t going the way he hoped and the referee made a call he disagreed with. He got angry at the referee, and can be seen arguing with him angrily.
Then, he tries to pull down the referee’s pants in a bizarre gesture. This got Faison kicked out of the game.
He later said he wanted “forgiveness” for what he did. Faison admitted what he tried to do was “bad” and an embarrassing example of what can happen when you lose your temper.
Talk about a tweet that didn’t age well… @tnhousegop caucus chair @JeremyFaison4TN tweeted this on January 6th 2021 — then one year later made national news for trying to fight and pants a ref. 👖 🤷🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️ #FaisonRefPantsingGate pic.twitter.com/C8VX1U0qxK
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) January 7, 2022
Embarrassing Behavior…
Faison was sitting in the stands when he became agitated. After seeing the play on the court, he got furious and left his seat.
Then, he walked onto the court and began accusing the referee of being at fault for the scuffle on the court. The referee told him to get lost, which is when Faison then unsuccessfully tried to pull his pants down.
This is very embarrassing behavior, especially for the top Republican in the state of Tennessee. It sets a bad example for the students, as well, to watch an adult acting this way.
All of us get worked up from time to time, but going onto the court during a game to try to physically confront a referee is about as stupid as it gets. It’s worth asking at this point whether Faison was intoxicated or drunk in some way during the time of this incident.
In a way, that would actually make it less embarrassing! By all accounts, it looks like he wasn’t drunk and just acted the fool, due to his frustrations boiling over.
TN State Rep. Jeremy Faison, House GOP Chair, tried to fight and depants a high school basketball referee.
FAISON: "Unfortunately, I acted the fool tonight and lost my temper on a ref. I was wanting him to fight me. Totally lost my junk and got booted … I was bad wrong." pic.twitter.com/qlBttjWZsg
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) January 5, 2022
The Bottom Line
The bottom line here is Faison is lucky he’s not facing charges.
We all get worked up sometimes, particularly if our kids are in a tense situation, but that’s no excuse for this kind of idiocy.