Exclusive | USC mens basketball coach Eric Musselman accused of launching racist tirade at star player in explosive lawsuit
USC men’s basketball head coach Eric Musselman “launched into a profanity-laced, racially-charged post-game locker room tirade” against one of his star players last season, according to an explosive new lawsuit obtained by the California Post.Chad Baker-Mazara filed the suit in Los Angeles on Monday, claiming that just before he was dismissed from the Trojans in March, Musselman unloaded on him in a racist rant following USC’s Feb.28 home game vs.
Nebraska.Baker-Mazara played 19 minutes in the contest but exited in the second half after sustaining an injury.The Trojans were blown out, 82-67, and when the team got back to its dressing room, Baker-Mazara claimed in his lawsuit that Musselman “lost his mind.”Musselman began yelling at the team, and when Baker-Mazara “attempted to address his teammates by saying ‘Hey guys!,’ Coach Musselman erupted at Baker-Mazara, screaming: ‘You shut the f—k up! You are one of the worst teammates anyone can ever have!’,” according to the suit.“Wow Coach, do you need me to leave,” Baker-Mazara allegedly responded, “because I don’t understand this animosity.”Baker-Mazara claimed Musselman then told him, “Yes, leave! Go back to the f—king Dominican Republic! Nobody wants you here!! F—k you!”“The words ‘Go back to the f—king Dominican Republic’ are generally understood by persons of color in the United States originating from the Dominican Republic — and were in fact taken by Baker-Mazara — to be racist and discriminatory, akin to telling an African-American to ‘go back to Africa,’” the lawsuit stated.“Coach Musselman’s outburst was a direct attack on Baker-Mazara’s national origin and Dominican heritage, made from a position of authority and power by the Head Coach of the team, in front of all of Baker-Mazara’s teammates.
The tirade was unprovoked, vicious, and discriminatory.”The day after the game, Baker-Mazara was dismissed from the team.Baker-Mazara accused th...