UCLA has removed a runner from its men’s cross country and track and field teams after video surfaced of him allegedly making racist and homophobic remarks about another individual.

Chris Weiland, a senior, was kicked off the team following outcry from some athletes and other members of the community. Last weekend, the now-deleted “@ucla_is_racist”Instagram account posted a video of a young man using racist and anti-gay language when discussing an undisclosed woman kissing another man. Multiple people close to the track and field program told the LA Times Weiland was the star of the four-minute clip.

Avery Anderson, UCLA’s director of track and field and cross-country, issued a statement announcing Weiland’s dismissal from the program. In it, Anderson says he suspended Weiland from the team months ago, before reinstating him in January.

The video was recorded in 2019, before Weiland was enrolled at UCLA.

“When first learning of this a few months ago, I was disgusted and immediately suspended him indefinitely from the team,” Anderson wrote. ““Even in my disgust, as a coach, my intentions are always to lead and educate and make the change happen that I want to see in the world. I can talk about changing the world, or I can put in the work to do so. and that is what I have done over the last few months with this individual.”

The person identified as Weiland, who is white, makes the following remarks in the video, per the LA Blade: “When she says she doesn’t, you know, want to get back together, why do you think? “It’s because she wants to be with this fucking faggot who has no future. She’s going to be with a stupid n— who’s going to be in community college all his life.”

The UCLA Black Student-Athletes Alliance called for Weiland's ouster from the program, along with quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and gymnast Margzetta Frazier.

Weiland has not publicly commented on the episode. His last event with the cross country team was Feb. 19, three days before he was kicked off.

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