David Douglas High School officials are cracking down on social media posts that used AI-generated racist, sexist and ableist images to target the school's football players, coaches and staff. The posts appeared on an Instagram account bearing Rex Putnam High School's name, and some of the material has been referred to the Portland Police Bureau for review.
The account depicted the David Douglas football team and Scots football players, according to oregonlive.com, which reported that many of the posts included AI-generated images and videos carrying racist, sexist and ableist themes. David Douglas officials said in a statement that they were aware of social media posts targeting David Douglas students, athletes, coaches and staff, and school leaders said some of the images and videos had been digitally altered with artificial intelligence and did not accurately represent the people depicted.
The David Douglas football team worked with Principal Jennifer Buscher and Athletic Director Staci Heath to alert families at the high school, according to KOIN. The posts came to light in the days after David Douglas and Rex Putnam met on the football field, a game the Kingsmen won 20-14, per the same oregonlive.com report.
Police Involvement and School Response
David Douglas High School said it was working with local law enforcement to look into the posts, and some of the content brought to the school's attention has been reported to the Portland Police Bureau, according to KATU. A Portland Police Bureau spokesperson told the station that the department's school liaison officer has been in contact with David Douglas and is working with the school on the matter. KATU reviewed the account and found 17 posts that appeared to target David Douglas football players using racist, anti-immigrant and religious stereotypes.
David Douglas officials condemned discrimination, harassment, bullying and hateful behavior in all forms, and the school instructed its community to avoid engaging with or responding to alarming discriminatory, threatening, harassing or bullying content. Families were told to save screenshots or other documentation of concerning posts and report them to a coach, teacher, counselor or administrator rather than commenting on the account itself.
Rex Putnam and North Clackamas Deny Any Connection
The account named after Rex Putnam High School is not affiliated with or endorsed by Rex Putnam, the North Clackamas School District or their athletic programs, the district said in its statement, as reported by oregonlive.com. Rex Putnam officials said they strongly denounce the racist and hateful messaging and stand in unity with David Douglas and neighboring athletic programs, adding that the school will not let anonymous online hostility disrupt partnerships and healthy competition between the two campuses.
Rex Putnam asked its own community to report the account and posts immediately and to share information with administration, while also asking students and families not to engage with or comment on the posts. School officials said addressing online harm requires a collective effort, and both districts instructed students and parents to avoid interacting with the account and instead document what they saw for school administrators. Oregonlive.com reported that the racist and hateful messaging violates OSAA sportsmanship standards and the district's commitment to equity and inclusion.
Part of a Broader Pattern at Oregon Football Games
The AI-generated posts land amid a string of racism allegations tied to Oregon high school football this season. A mother has accused audience members of hurling racist slurs at a player during a Barlow High School and North Salem High School matchup this month, and North Salem High School is looking into a claim that a player used a slur during the Vikings' recent game at Barlow, according to oregonlive.com. Hood River County School District confirmed it was separately investigating an alleged racist slur from a Sept. 11 game between Hood River Valley and Barlow, the outlet reported.
Oregonlive.com noted that OSAA policy directs school districts to investigate incidents occurring at their events first, with the association able to bring in a third-party investigator if districts cannot agree on the facts or an appropriate punishment. Last spring, the Central Catholic baseball team forfeited two games after a player repeatedly used a racist slur during a pregame huddle, according to chronline.com. Congresswoman Janelle Bynum has weighed in on the broader pattern, saying a racial slur is not trash talk, a rivalry, or anything other than racism.
David Douglas athletes have described this kind of hostility before. Student athletes and coaches told OPB in 2024 that they faced racist chants and slurs during most of their away games, and one player, Frazier, said the team documented the incidents week by week on Facebook and Instagram.
A Growing National Problem With AI and Bullying
The David Douglas case fits into a pattern researchers are tracking nationwide. A RAND survey found that 13% of K-12 principals reported bullying incidents involving AI-generated deepfakes during the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years, according to rand.org. High schools reported it most often, with 22% of high school principals and 20% of middle school principals describing such cases, compared with just 8% of elementary school principals.
An EdWeek Research Center survey cited in the same RAND report found that 67% of school staff believed their students had been misled by a deepfake, and half believed teachers or administrators had been similarly deceived. Among schools that had experienced deepfake-related incidents, 79% took disciplinary action, 66% referred the incidents to law enforcement, and 47% provided education or training on deepfakes and responsible AI use, per the report.
