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A handful of Duke basketball fans have shocked fellow students and outsiders by taunting a North Carolina State player with his grandmother’s death.
Tyler Lewis, N.C. State’s freshman guard, became visibly shaken during a series of free throws when shouts of “How’s your grandma?” echoed from the Cameron Crazies seating section.
Lewis had been very close to his grandmother, who passed away last Friday at the age of 83 when she succumbed to complications from pneumonia.
Members of Duke’s student body and local reporters at the scene stressed that the “How’s your grandma?” chant was not collectively shouted by a large group of Duke fans, but rather by a very small group who went too far. Many eyewitnesses, including Lewis’ own father, claimed that most of the students had been shouting “Past your bedtime” and only a tiny fraction of the fans decided to shout “How’s your grandma?”
“It was mostly ‘Past your bedtime,’ but there was an instant when a brief number of students chanted about Tyler’s grandmother,” said Lewis’ father. “It wasn’t the entire student section. I think a few tried to outdo themselves.”
But other game attendees are denying that the taunt had ever been shouted, claiming that many eyewitnesses had misheard the chant.
The inappropriate taunt has created an uproar even among Duke students, many of whom took to Twitter and other social media to voice their concerns.
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