Athens commissioner responds to UGA football players 'raping and murdering' comment

Commissioner Melissa Link has responded to criticism spurred by a comment she made during a budget hearing in which she said football players at the University of Georgia are “out there raping and murdering.”

On Thursday, Athens commissioners met for the first of a series of budget hearings, and during this meeting, they discussed recruitment at the police department, which has seen a high number of vacancies.

In the budget proposal, there is a potential Police Youth Cadet Corp program that would have 10 part-time cadets work with the police department and serve as a path to employment for Athens community youth.

In the meeting, Link was skeptical of the idea and brought up the alternative of other recruitment tools, including recruiting from the University of Georgia.

“I brought this up before [I] had [a] discussion with Chief Spruill about direct recruiting, maybe, from UGA athletes,” said Link during the budget meeting. “They're highly fit and intelligent college-educated young people who might want to stay in this community.”

Later in the conversation, Commissioner Mike Hamby remarked, “I think all the football players got drafted.”

As a response to Hamby, Link made her comment about UGA football players.

“A lot of them are out there raping and murdering," said Link.

Moments later, she spoke up again and said "a couple of them are out there raping and murdering."

Commissioner Mariah Parker responded: " Woah, woah, woah, woah. Allegedly. Allegedly. Jesus." 

Link didn't mention any players by name.

Former Bulldogs player Ahkil Nasir Crumpton was indicted on federal charges of murder two days before Link’s comment for the shooting death of an Oconee County gas station clerk in 2021. 

Former Bulldogs linebacker Adam Anderson was indicted by a grand jury and charged with rape in April and is scheduled to be arraigned on June 13. He was on the football team at the time of his arrest but was later suspended.

More:Former Georgia football linebacker Adam Anderson indicted by grand jury, charged with rape

More:Former UGA football player indicted on federal murder and other charges in slaying of Oconee clerk

Link’s comment was condemned by Athens’ local state representative Houston Gaines, with him tweeting that next day that the comments were “defamatory” and “outrageous.”

Some replies to Gaines’ initial tweet called for an apology from Link.

Link criticized Gaines’ response and when asked by the Athens Banner-Herald if she stood by her comment, said that she did and it was a quip in response to Hamby's comment.

“The fact is the vast majority of college athletes never get anywhere near a professional career in athletics and one would hope it would be a priority of the program to assure that those individuals transition smoothly into productive adulthood. Sadly, quite a few do not,” said Link.

Link said that Gaines did not take into account the context of the conversation, which she said was a discussion of giving graduating Georgia athletes an opportunity to “prevent straying down the wrong path.”