Tulsa Soccer Player Fired For Calling OKC Player Racial Slur

A Tulsa Roughnecks FC soccer player has been fired after saying racial slurs to an Oklahoma City Energy FC player during a game Saturday. 

Officials from the Roughnecks said the player in question is midfielder Fabian Bastidas. The Roughnecks fired Bastidas after Energy midfielder Atiba Harris explained what happened after the game. 

Atiba wrote on Twitter that during the game an unnamed player, later identified as Bastidas, called Atiba "the N-word, not once but twice on the field..."

Tulsa Roughnecks president Barry Williams made the following statement in response to the incident:

"The Tulsa Roughnecks announced today the termination of Fabian Bastidas' contract with the club following his use of foul and abusive language during last night's match with OKC Energy FC. The player's actions are a violation of the league's zero-tolerance policy, and do not represent the beliefs and values of our club - nor the community we represent. As an organization, we sincerely apologize to Atiba Harris and OKC Energy FC, and will do what is necessary to prevent this type of behavior in the future."

Below is the Energy's Co-Owner Bob Funks statement on the situation: 

"There is no room in our sport or society for racism. Targeting such hateful and hurtful remarks to a player, fan or anyone goes against the values and principles of Energy FC. We stand solidly with our player who reported the use of offensive racial remarks by a Roughnecks player during last night's match. No amount of investigation is going to question the veracity of what our player reported. If the situation were to be reversed, I can assure the player would be suspended indefinitely from our team and most likely dismissed. This unfortunate event presents an opportunity for the USL to make it clearly and cogently known that we will never accept one iota of hate speech among our owners and players. We need to stand together against any demeaning speech and rededicate ourselves to being respectful to others both in words and deeds."