During the second half of the NCAA men's basketball national championship on Monday, Utah Sen. Al Jackson tweeted a derogatory statement in reference to the appearance of the players participating in the game.
The tweet said: "Great game tonight. Nice to see two clean cut teams compete void of tattoos and nappy heads."
Jackson, who is black, deleted the tweet and his Twitter account shortly thereafter. He has since reactivated his account and made it private.
"My tweet wasn't intended to hurt anybody's feelings," Jackson told The Tribune on Monday night. "It was an honest observation I made."
The senator, R-Highland, is leaving the Legislature, and Utah, midterm and will be "moving back East to be with family," he said.
His son Frank was a five-star prospect at Lone Peak High School and has signed to play for Duke.
tphibbs@sltrib.com; nparker@sltrib.com
Twitter: @trevorphibbs; NickParkerSTET