Texas Cheerleads Execution Skit

[oneforone]

NACOGDOCHES, Texas -- Some Texas high school students became upset during a pep rally last month when a cheerleader routine set to music ended with a mock execution complete with toy guns.

Several students complained to the principal about "gun promotion" at a school where a zero-tolerance policy on weapons is strictly enforced. But the school is taking no action against the students involved in the skit.

Photos from the Nacogdoches High School pep rally skit on Sept. 5 show cheerleaders wearing the rival school's t-shirts kneeling on the floor in a row, with their hands behind their backs.

Students say a song with gunfire in the track was playing, and Nacogdoches cheerleaders aimed toy guns at the kneeling girls' heads. The "prisoners" then fell over as if they were dead. (Many in the stands clapped and cheered, but not everyone was happy about the skit. Some students later circulated a petition protesting "gun promotion at pep rallies" and the debate became a hot topic in the school's newspaper, the Dragon Echo.

School principal Nathan Chaddick disagreed, telling the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel the skit was "simple, innocent satire" aimed at boosting school spirit. He said only one parent complained.

The paper also printed a student editorial the principal refused to run in full in the school newspaper.

"...it is inappropriate to allow such a display of excessive violence in a high school. This is not only unacceptable in a school environment, but also from a moral standpoint," wrote the opposing students.
Nacogdoches is about 175 miles southeast of Dallas.

I know this may of have been a tad on the tasteless side but most of us did/seen something similar to this at a pep assembly or bon fire in high school or college. At one the pep rallies at Westmoore the cheerleaders dressed as football players they helped the mascot rip up a huge stuffed lion for Moore War. The crowd went wild.

I should also mention that this weekend OU Fans will be eating the Texas Mascot BEVO at Bevo Bash Friday in Marietta.

Honestly people need to stop being so serious and political correct about everything. Life is too short to call foul on everything that hits a nerve with you.

The 120 students who signed the petition probably consist of girls who never made the squad, had boyfriend stolen from them by a member of the squad or the guys who just cannot land a date with any of them.

[TaoMaas]

Students say a song with gunfire in the track was playing, and Nacogdoches cheerleaders aimed toy guns at the kneeling girls' heads. The "prisoners" then fell over as if they were dead.

This seems over-the-line to me and I keep asking myself, "Why?" It's not just the mock shooting, I think....it's that it was done "execution style". I wouldn't have near as big a problem with it if it had been the mascot who was pretending to shoot the opposing mascot and a big "Bang!" sign came out of the end of the gun, ya know? It's still a mock killing, but somehow less disturbing. What these students did is in the class of faking a rape or suicide bombing. Not funny, in this day and age, IMHO.

[Luke]

Kinda funny how more movies and tv shows and video games are becoming more and more violent, yet our cultural and political sensitivities are become more and more heightened. You'd think we'd be less sensitive to it.

On the other hand, it could just be a vocal minority who object to this kind of stuff.

Interesting, nonetheless.

[jbrown84]

Sounds highly inappropriate to me, given the school shootings we've had and such. This is depiction of realistic violence, a scene that very well could have played out as part of an actual school shooting incident.

Ripping up a stuffed lion or "eating" the mascot is an ENTIRELY different thing.