Coach fired after antisemitic incident at Yonkers school basketball game

YONKERS, N.Y. (PIX11) – A coach was dismissed from his team after antisemitic remarks were made during a high school girls' basketball game in Yonkers, according to officials.

The comments were made during a game on Jan. 4 between Roosevelt High School Early College Studies and The Leffell School, officials said.

The remarks were said after the third quarter, according to an op-ed written in The Leffell School's student-run paper. The players on Roosevelt High School's team yelled "Free Palestine" along with the antisemitic remarks, the writer of the op-ed said.

Yonkers Public Schools dismissed the coach and a player on the Roosevelt basketball team following an investigation into the incident, according to officials.

"The antisemitic rhetoric reportedly made against the student athletes of The Leffell School are abhorrent, inappropriate and not in line with the values we set forth for our young people," Yonkers Public Schools Interim Superintendent Dr. Luis Rodriquez and Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano said in a joint statement.

Rodriquez said the school district will provide counseling and training sessions to prevent this from happening again.

Gov. Kathy Hochul commented about the incident on X, saying, "A high school basketball game. This cannot be who we are as New Yorkers. No one should ever be subjected to antisemitism or any kind of hate."