Kentucky Fans Flooded Elite Eight Referee With 800 Angry Voicemail Messages

Kentucky fans left more than 800 voicemails for referee John Higgins after the team’s Elite Eight loss to North Carolina, seven of which have been flagged by law enforcement as threats. The messages were reviewed by police in Higgins’s home of Omaha, and those containing threats have been sent to relevant officials in the individual home districts of those who sent them, according to CBS affiliate WKYT of Lexington, Ky.

Some of the flagged messages are explicit threats of violence, while some are more general statements of ill-will. The content of the threatening calls, as released to WKYT by the Sarpy County Sheriff’s office, is as follows:

#1 - “You should put a gun in your mouth and blow your own fricking brains out.”

#2 - “If I ever see you in person I’m going to smack the taste out of your fricking mouth.”

#3 - “You’re going to pay, buddy.”

#4 - “You enjoy your life before somebody kills you.”

#5 - “Hey, you hear that garbage truck in the background over there? Wish you were in it personally, you....”

#6 - “I hope the hell John Higgins falls off a roof and spends the rest of his life in a wheelchair.”

#7 - “I hope you all get in a plane crash and die.”

Audio of the calls starts at about the 1:00 mark below:

After Kentucky’s loss back in March, head coach John Calipari criticized the game’s officiating. Fans then flooded Higgins with calls and emails, additionally writing a slew of negative online reviews for his roofing business until he was forced to take down its Facebook page.

[ WKYT]