A California high school principal is apologizing for a YouTube video that shows he and his staff involved in a fake fight against a rival school. The video ends with the “shooting” of the students by a campus security officer.
Buhach Colony High School principal Steve Hobbs emailed an apology to the principal and students at Atwater High School this week after the “Fry Freddy” video was posted on YouTube and shown a student rally, according to the Merced Sun Star. Hobbs removed it from YouTube after the students had seen it, but it was reposted Wednesday.
In the video, Hobbs is seen at the start of a meeting with his staff discussing security for the upcoming rivalry week game. In the middle of a planning meeting, the principal receives call from Atwater police officer Matt Haywood saying that “Freddy the Falcon,” the rival school’s mascot, was on campus. Hobbs and his staff, who he would not identity, then change into super hero costumes to fight the mascot and students, who are dressed as being from the rival school.
With Haywood being handcuffed to a tree and the staff out-numbered by rivals, a call is made to campus security officer Kathy Cometta, who drives up in a golf cart, carrying a toy gun and proceeds to
“shoot” the students, who fall to the ground. Cometta was supposed have sprayed barbeque sauce on the students, but didn’t because of an alleged technical problem.
Hobbs said the video wasn’t designed to “glamorize or endorse school violence,” but said he wouldn’t do it again and apologize for the impact on the community. Atwater principal Alan Peterson said the video shouldn’t have ended the way it did, but he thought people being upset about it was a case of a “little bit of political correctness.”
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