Skip to main content
Join Now

Arizona student section, ZonaZoo, releases statement condemning 'F**k Mormons' chant vs. BYU

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•02/24/25•

BarkleyTruax

ZonaZoo
© Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

The Arizona basketball student section, the ZonaZoo and their leadership group issued an apology on Monday following an inappropriate chant that broke out from a portion of the student section inside the McKale Memorial Center on Saturday.

The statement was released following BYU‘s 96-95 win over the Wildcats. Videos on social media made the rounds following the game, depicting a group of fans appear to collectively chant “F**k the Mormons,” directed toward the Cougars basketball team.

Arizona’s athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois commented on the situation in a statement after the incident as well.

“Following tonight’s men’s basketball game, it was brought to our attention that an unacceptable chant occurred,” Reed-Francois said. “On behalf of the University of Arizona Athletic Department, we apologize to BYU, their student-athletes, coaches and fans. The chant is not reflective of who we are and should not have happened.”

CNN reached out to BYU for comment, who told the publication that the Arizona fans “crossed a line.” Their comment is in regard to BYU being a private institution sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“We would hope that more people could see that disparaging someone’s religion crosses that line. There have been a few highly publicized chants at our road games over the past few years, but really, we hear these types of things often, with a variety of our teams, in a variety of venues,” BYU said in its statement to CNN.

“We understand that us having to hear some bad words is a small consideration when viewed in the wide landscape of issues in our country or even in college athletics right now. However, we also believe that words really do matter, and we believe that we as a society should examine anywhere we can eliminate prejudice and hate.

“While we’ll never be able to control the amount of negativity we experience at a road game, we can always control the amount of positivity that we strive to share.”

Arizona will welcome its fanbase back inside the McKale Memorial Center this coming Wednesday for a matchup against Utah. Tip-off between the Wildcats and Utes is set for 9 p.m. ET live on ESPN+.

After that, Arizona will be on the road in two of their final three regular season games of the season. They’ll finish their home slate for the regular season against rival Arizona State on March 4.