Homewood-Flossmoor High School administrators say they are considering legal options after five students from Lincoln-Way East High School were filmed taunting fans with monkey sounds and gestures during Friday's varsity football game in Flossmoor, Illinois.
The video, which spread on social media over the weekend, shows the students appearing to harass fans of the home team. "They were making monkey sounds, and they were flapping their arms like monkeys, and they were crawling like monkeys," parent Vicky Carter told ABC7 Chicago. "It was very disturbing to my children."
Lincoln-Way East administrators confirmed the students are not members of the football team and said the school has identified them. "We would like to sincerely apologize to the HF community for the behavior displayed by these students," the statement said. "We have identified the students involved and will follow through with the district's discipline policies and procedures to the fullest extent." The school has not said what that discipline will be.
The Illinois High School Association issued its own statement Saturday. "The IHSA strongly condemns the racist actions that were perpetrated by a small number of Lincoln-Way East High School students," Executive Director Craig Anderson wrote, adding that a safe and respectful environment is "requisite to remain a member in good standing of the IHSA" and that the association "will be working with both schools to make sure an appropriate resolution is reached."
Two schools, two student bodies
The game matched two of the largest high schools in Chicago's south suburbs, and two very different ones. Homewood-Flossmoor High School enrolls about 2,700 students and is 74% Black, 12% white, and 10% Hispanic, according to federal enrollment data. Lincoln-Way East, in Frankfort, is nearly the same size at about 2,700 students and is 69% white, 12% Hispanic, and 11% Black. Both are the flagship schools of single-purpose high school districts, Homewood-Flossmoor District 233 and Lincoln-Way District 210.
"The population at H-F is majority Black, and so mocking them in terms we have been called for years and in our history, it's not something that the kids (these days) should have to go through," alum Destiny Watson said.
The incident fell on Homewood-Flossmoor's homecoming weekend. Graduates from the class of 2016 were in town for a 10-year reunion, and several attended Friday's game. Senior Danny Ruffin said the students should be expelled. "I don't know if there could be a criminal charge for hate speech or something like that," he said.
What discipline is possible
Because the five students were spectators rather than players, the IHSA's authority over them is limited; the association regulates member schools and their athletes, and its leverage here is with Lincoln-Way East as an institution. Discipline for the students themselves rests with Lincoln-Way District 210, and Illinois school districts generally can suspend or, with a board vote, expel students for conduct at school-sponsored events, including away games.
Whether anything beyond school discipline is available is less clear. Homewood-Flossmoor's statement that it is considering legal options did not specify what those might be.
Students, parents, and graduates on the Homewood-Flossmoor side said the weekend went on. "There's so much love. There's so much community that's happening right now that we're not going to let a video really deter or take away from that," alum Sophia Osabuohien said.
Sources
ABC7 Chicago: Lincoln-Way East HS students involved in racist harassment at Homewood-Flossmoor HS football game
Illinois High School Association statement from Executive Director Craig Anderson, Sept. 5, 2026, as published by ABC7.
Enrollment and demographic figures from allk12's analysis of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Common Core of Data.
