Tennessee Reporter Kasey Funderburg Resigns After Discovery Of Racist Tweets From Teenage Years

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University of Tennessee sports reporter Kasey Funderburg has resigned after tweets showing her writing racist slurs were discovered. The tweets date back to 2013 and 2014 when Funderburg was 16 or 17 years old.

According to Funderburg's LinkedIn account, she held positions as both an on-air talent at VFL Films and a sideline reporter for Vol Network Radio. Her VFL Films profile page is deleted from the Tennessee athletics site. Funderburg has also made her Twitter and Instagram accounts private and removed any mention of VFL Films and the Vol Network from her bio.

According to sources, Kasey Funderburg's tweets came to light after she called out the popular troll account Richard G. West, which is a well-known account in the Tennessee sports world. West has duped many people on Twitter, including ESPN following the Vols' win over Alabama.

Tennessee will wear black uniforms against Kentucky this Saturday. West shared the news along with a racist comment saying the university would be asking fans to paint their faces black for the game.

Kasey Funderberg Twitter Trail

Funderburg reportedly quote tweeted West's tweet explaining that fans shouldn't fall for the fake news and that it was a hurtful comment.

After Funderburg's tweet denouncing the racist joke gained traction, another Twitter user discovered tweets from 2013 and 2014 allegedly showing Funderburg writing the n-word. After sharing screenshots of Funderburg's tweets she was reportedly fired from her positions in Knoxville.

A user by the name 'Vol Fan' started a petition on Change.org to bring Funderburg back to Vol Network. The creator of the petition claims Funderburg was 14 years old when she posted the alleged racist tweets. At the time of this writing, 117 people have signed the petition.

A person claiming to have started the petition shared with us the following message: "We want Kasey to know we are here to help and want her to have her job at Vol Network back and we know what she said was wrong but she clearly has changed because she was trying to stop someone racist and we love Kasey and her work at VFL."

OutKick reached out to Kasey Funderburg for comment but has not heard a response. This story will be updated if a response is received.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.