By james art 
The South Carolina athletic department issued a public apology to LSU and star guard Flau’J Johnson over a song played at Colonial Life Arena at the end of the No. 2 Gamecocks 66-56 over No. 5 Tigers on Friday.
At the end of the game, the DJ in the arena played the song “Cut Friends” by the rapper Camouflage. Camouflage, whose real name was Jason Johnson, was Flow’Jay’s father. He was killed in a shooting in 2003. in Georgia, six months before his daughter was born.
DJ TO, the DJ who plays arena music during women’s basketball games in South Carolina, responded to a fan when a fan pointed out the song choice with the caption “My bad” and a laughing emoji on Instagram, according to The State newspaper.
In another post regarding LSU fans upset about the song being played, TO wrote “People will find something to be mad about…just let them.”
Johnson responded to the incident on social media, calling the song choice “disgusting behavior,” which isn’t funny.
In addition to its public apology, South Carolina announced a one-game suspension for DJ, adding that “we will be meeting with her to provide additional information about our expectations for her going forward.”
“Her actions were understandably upsetting to Flau’J Johnson and her family and disrespectful to the LSU program and fans.” the statement said. “Conference rivalries and passionate fan bases should only serve to improve the sport, not be used to personally target individual players.
“We regret that this has come to our facility after a game in which both teams have garnered the level of national attention that women’s basketball has earned, and we apologize to Flau’Jay, her family and LSU.”
DJ TO later apologized to X, saying, “I never meant to disrespect anyone or hurt anyone when my job is to have fun and make sure other people have a good time.”
I apologize for playing the Cut Friends Instrumental at the game yesterday. I never meant to disrespect anyone or offend anyone when my job is to have fun and make sure other people have a good time. I’m from the Lowcountry/C-Port area so I’ve even been playing it for years
— DJ TO (IG: shejayto) (@shejayto_) January 26, 2025
Johnson is LSU’s leading scorer, averaging 19.6 points per game. Still, the junior had 13 points in the loss at LSU, the Tigers’ first of the 2024-25 season.
The result was also their 17th straight loss to the Gamecocks, including last season’s SEC championship game. LSU’s last win over South Carolina was in 2012.
South Carolina’s next home game is Feb. 2 against Auburn.