Maine HS hoops announce shot after player body-shaming

A pair of high school teachers in Houlton, Maine were fired on Thursday after making comments about girls’ basketball players doing body shaming during a live stream.

Jim Carter and Steve Shaw, former athletic director and coach, broadcast the games for about a month, according to the Portland Press Herald. In the 40-second video posted on Twitter, one of them said, “The two girls here are extremely overweight. Horrible.” The two laughed and exchanged derogatory comments without realizing their microphones were on during the Central Aroostook and Easton High School game.

“I started getting phone calls right away,” WHOU station director Fred Grant told the Press Herald.

Carter told the Press Herald that he apologized to the school superintendent to the players he commented on. A retired teacher, Carter has written three books about high school basketball in Aroostook County. Shaw was inducted into the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame in August.

“I don’t even know what to say,” Carter told the Press Herald. “Hopefully everyone can get through this and be fine.”

Joseph Leach, the parent of one of the girls on the team, expressed shock when approached by the Press Herald.

“I went home from the game and someone shared the video with us and I immediately knew it was Jim Carter and Steve Shaw talking,” Leach said. “And I really can’t believe what they’re saying,”

Grant issued an apology on behalf of the station.

“It is written, it is put into words, it is repeated,” says Grant. “They know the deal. It was a huge failure for them. “