Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, center, talks with Rep. Dan Howell, R-Georgetown, left, during a meeting, Aug. 11, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn. A top Tennessee House Republican lawmaker has apologized for losing his temper and being ejected from watching a high school basketball game after getting into a confrontation with a referee, including a brief gesture at pulling down the official's pants that is visible in video footage of the game. On Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022 Rep. Jeremy Faison, 45, posted on Twitter that he “acted the fool tonight and lost my temper on a ref.” (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, file)
By Jonathan Mattise and Kimberlee Kruesi
A top Tennessee House Republican lawmaker has apologized for losing his temper and being ejected from watching a high school basketball game after a confrontation with a referee. The dustup included what appeared to be either a feigned or failed attempt at pulling down the official's pants, according to video footage.
On Tuesday, Rep. Jeremy Faison, 45, posted on Twitter that he “acted the fool tonight and lost my temper on a ref.”
“I was wanting him to fight me. Totally lost my junk and got booted from the gym," Faison wrote. "I've never really lost my temper but I did tonight and it was completely stupid of me.
“Emotions getting in the way of rational thoughts are never good. I hope to be able to find the ref and ask for his forgiveness. I was bad wrong.”
Providence Academy, a private religious school in Johnson City, livestreamed the boys game Tuesday against Lakeway Christian Academy, a private religious school in White Pine. Faison's son is on the Lakeway team.
The video feed shows Faison sitting in the stands before players hit the ground on a loose ball in the third quarter, spurring the referee's whistle and a brief scuffle between the two teams.
According to a report provided by the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, Faison showed up on the court and was then told by a referee to leave. Faison then pointed a finger at the referee's face and said, “You can't tell me to leave the floor this was your fault,” the report stated.
Faison then grabs the ref's pants and tugged down on them, the report says.
The referee's pants stayed up and Faison subsequently walked away.
Since 2019, Faison has been the House caucus chairman for Republicans, who have supermajorities in both legislative chambers. The GOP caucus chairman is among the most influential position in the House.
In his apology, the lawmaker from Cosby wrote that “for years" he has thought it is wrong for parents to lose their temper at sporting events, saying it is “not Christian and it's not mature and it's embarrassing to the child.” Faison did not specifically mention the pants-pulling-down gesture in his post.
News of Faison's actions quickly sparked criticism.
"'Pantsing' a ref on the gym floor is next level bullying…not even the stuff of middle school locker rooms," Rep. Gloria Johnson, a Knoxville Democrat, tweeted Wednesday.
President Joe Biden's first year in office is wrapping up. What has he achieved, and what else remains on the table while the Democrats have control of Washington? Amid an ongoing pandemic and rising inflation, Biden's approval rating is at an all-time low and his party is plagued by infighting. Will he be able to continue pushing key parts of his agenda? Paul Glastris, former Bill Clinton speechwriter & Editor-in-chief of 'Washington Monthly,' joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the president's achievements in his first year, where he's fallen short, and what he must do in order to get more of his agenda signed into law.
Tech giants Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, and Apple are faced with a bipartisan antitrust legislation effort underway in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The companies stand accused of promoting their own goods and services over smaller competitors on their platforms, holding too much monopolistic power via their app stores and services. Adam Kovacevich, founder and CEO of Chamber of Progress, a technology industry trade group, joined Cheddar to argue that the bills that are being debated currently could end up hurting consumers, rather than helping.
Concerns over inflation have become one of the biggest worries for executives. A survey from The Conference Board shows that more than 900 CEOs consider inflation a top tier concern, a major shift from last year's survey that had it as a low-level concern. Rebecca Ray, Executive Vice President, Human Capital, The Conference Board joined Cheddar's Opening Bell for more.
Jordan Zakarin, Media Producer at A More Perfect Union, joined Cheddar News to break down the latest from Colorado, where at least 8,700 Kroger employees walked off the job in demand of increased benefits and wages.
With the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing rapidly approaching, clouds of controversy continue to swirl around China's treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority population, its surveillance state, and security for visiting athletes. Phelim Kine, China correspondent for Politico, joined Cheddar to break down the big storylines surrounding the Beijing Games and highlight what he saw as the complete disregard by top corporate sponsors like P&G, Airbnb, Intel, Visa, and Coca-Cola, for the controversies. "They spend $100 million for every Olympics that they sponsor, and they have frankly shown absolute willful indifference to any type of entreaty to essentially be more vocal about their concerns about human rights in China," he said. Kine also touched on the data privacy fears for athletes as visiting contingents are being told to carry burner phones to avoid security risks.
Texas's six-week abortion ban remains in effect after a federal appeals court ruling on Monday. The U.S. court of appeals for the fifth circuit temporarily transferred the case to the Texas Supreme Court, which is expected to leave the dispute in limbo for months to come. Katie Barlow, attorney and media editor of SCOTUSblog, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
Hugh Odom, founder and president of Vertical Consultants, shared his expertise on telecommunications with Cheddar on the safety issue raised about 5G deployment by airlines. The installation was partially delayed again on Tuesday as the airlines warned of potentially catastrophic delays in a letter to the Biden administration. Later, both Verizon and AT&T relented and put a pause on some of the implementations. "The first thing the Biden administration needs to do is get everybody in the room and say, look, aviation industry, identify the problem — wireless industry, come up with a solution," said Odom.
Dave Levinthal, deputy Washington Bureau chief at Insider, joins Cheddar News to discuss Gallup's new survey that reveals more Americans leaned Republican by the end of 2021.
Women's March ATX rally, Saturday, Oct., 2, 2021, at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas. An expected decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in the coming year to severely restrict abortion rights or overturn Roe v. Wade entirely is setting off a renewed round of abortion battles in state legislatures. (AP Photo/Stephen Spillman, File)
