FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek released a statement Saturday about an incident between a member of Arkansas’ men’s basketball support staff and a photojournalist from the University of Kentucky student newspaper Friday night.
In a three-second video posted to social media that has been viewed more than 6 million times, Razorbacks director of internal operations Riley Hall is shown making contact with the phone of a photographer as members of Arkansas’ coaching staff walked away from the playing floor after a 67-61 loss to Texas A&M at the SEC Tournament.
The photographer, Jack Weaver, tweeted that Hall “grabbed my phone and threw it at the ground.” Kentucky was preparing to play Vanderbilt in Bridgestone Arena in the game after the Razorbacks.
Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman left the court in a rage of f-bombs after losing to Texas A&M in the #SECMBB Tournament. His assistant then grabbed my phone and threw it at the ground. @KYKernelSports pic.twitter.com/xRiX7O7dAN
— Jack Weaver (@jack_weaver_) March 11, 2023
“I have visited with Riley Hall, a member of our men’s basketball support staff, and others who personally observed an interaction between Mr. Hall and a reporter following our game Friday night at the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament,” Yurachek wrote. “During our conversation, Mr. Hall expressed his regret that while leaving the floor his engagement inadvertently resulted in knocking the reporter’s cell phone from his hand.
“While, based on our discussion, I do not believe there was malicious intent, I have addressed the issue with Mr. Hall and he agrees his actions were not appropriate or reflective of our program. On behalf of Mr. Hall and our program, I want to offer an apology to the reporter impacted by these actions.”
The Kentucky Kernel, the UK student newspaper, issued a statement to its Twitter account Friday shortly after the video was posted online.
“The Kentucky Kernel is appalled by the actions of the Arkansas mens basketball program. Jack Weaver always embodies professionalism on the job and no journalist, especially a student journalist, should be subjected to violence for simply doing their job.”