The Florida Bar has placed an employee on administrative leave as it investigates online comments sent to a Miami football player last weekend.
Kade McLendon, who has worked as a computer technician at the Bar for around two years, was identified as the employee.
After the Hurricanes beat Florida State, an account using McLendon’s name sent numerous messages to Damon Wilson II, including several racist and homophobic slurs.
He shared a screenshot of the messages on social media on Sunday, calling it a ‘glimpse into the life of a black student athlete.’
The Bar said in a statement: ‘The messages in question are not only ethically and morally reprehensible but also violate our internal social media policy for employees.
‘As the internal investigation continues, we are committed to enforcing our policies and procedures while making sure that any due process rights are protected.’
Damon Wilson II shared awful messages he received after Saturday’s University of Miami game
Wilson helped the Hurricanes to a dramatic win over rivals FSU before receiving the messages
The Hurricanes are now ranked No.1 in the AP Top 25 after their dramatic double overtime win
An attempt by The Associated Press to reach McLendon on Tuesday was unsuccessful. It’s unclear why the private messages were sent to Wilson, who is in his first season at Miami after previously playing at Georgia and Missouri.
‘That’s my brother and I embrace him,’ Miami offensive lineman Ryan Rodriguez said Tuesday when asked about Wilson and the online comments. ‘It´s more than a game. That´s my brother.’
The Hurricanes are now the No.1-ranked team in the AP Top 25 after surviving a double-overtime scare to beat Florida State 43-35.
After entering the game No.3, Miami scored the go-ahead second OT score when Darian Mensah connected with Malachi Toney before a controversial ending as a miracle 4th-and-21 FSU conversion was waved off for holding then a possible touchdown was ruled an interception.
After the game, Miami coach Mario Cristobal said: ‘Credit to Florida State. They played their tails off. And credit to our guys, because I can sit here and rattle off a million mistakes and errors that we need to correct, but we just playing. We just kept battling.’
‘I love this game,’ he later said in his postgame press conference. ‘Best game in the country. My favorite game of the year.
‘In there, I think there was a lot of gratitude for the guys that laid it on the line. There’s some guys that are missing that would love to take part in this game. And they’re sitting there with us, right? Some guys are on crutches. Some guys are in a sling.
‘And when you get to play in this game, right, this special rivalry, it means a lot to everybody.
‘And to find a way to win like we did, it speaks loudly to the fact that this team has the confidence, despite issues that we found ourselves in. We can find a way to, you know, find a way to win.’
