https://twitter.com/woahohkatie/status/792507579549102080

A Wisconsin fan’s racist costume during the Badgers’ game against Nebraska on Saturday night is causing outrage. The fan dressed like an inmate, put on a Barack Obama mask, put a noose around his neck, and held up an anti-Hillary Clinton sign. While the words on the sign are tough to read, it appears to start “What difference at this point does it make? Really Hillary??? Are your f-ing” before it gets blocked off by another fan.

Understandably, people were furious about the decision to let this fan into the game. Among the people who were angry was Nigel Hayes, the star forward for Wisconsin’s basketball team.

I'm offended that they allowed a fan into the game with this. Is this what @UWMadison and @UWBadgers supports? pic.twitter.com/izvzMOqgEG — Nigel Hayes (@NIGEL_HAYES) October 30, 2016

To their credit, the University’s official Twitter account handled this incident quickly, asking for the location of the fan before having guest services attend to the matter.

@woahohkatie @UWBadgers Thanks for letting us know— Can you tell us what section you took this photo in? — UW-Madison (@UWMadison) October 30, 2016

@woahohkatie We appreciate the quick reply. Guest Services has been notified. — UW-Madison (@UWMadison) October 30, 2016

@NatsBankruptcy @JulieDiCaro Not cool at all. An image of a noose in our stadium is unacceptable. — UW-Madison (@UWMadison) October 30, 2016

Wisconsin’s athletics account, meanwhile, wrote this incident off as a person expressing freedom of speech and noted that the fan removed their costume when asked.

https://twitter.com/UWBadgers/status/792542914815463424

@BlackBrainFood We don't support offensive image of a noose, but is a form of free speech. Guest Services asked them to remove & they did. — Wisconsin Badgers (@UWBadgers) October 30, 2016

@HarrySteinDC We don't support offensive image of a noose, but this is a form of free speech. Guest Services asked them to remove & they did — Wisconsin Badgers (@UWBadgers) October 30, 2016

This was also the statement used by Wisconsin’s main Twitter account for a little before they realized that writing this off as “free speech” wasn’t the best look.

@osusteelersJen We don't support offensive image of a noose, but is a form of free speech. Guest Services asked them to remove & they did. — UW-Madison (@UWMadison) October 30, 2016

@BrettSBaker We don't support offensive image of a noose, but is a form of free speech. Guest Services asked them to remove & they did. — UW-Madison (@UWMadison) October 30, 2016

@rashadalaiyan We oppose the offensive image of a noose—stadium staff asked fan to remove & they did. — UW-Madison (@UWMadison) October 30, 2016

@JMoLawre We oppose the offensive image of a noose—stadium staff asked fan to remove & they did. — UW-Madison (@UWMadison) October 30, 2016

There is, of course, a big difference between free speech and a person saying the President of the United States (or, really, anyone) should be lynched. Wisconsin deserves credit for dealing with this, but writing it off as a person taking advantage of the rights granted to them by the First Amendment isn’t good. Nor is the fact that, you know, someone was able to get into a football game dressed like this.