‘Cop-killing’ halftime show at Mississippi high school leaves community and social media outraged
A grieving Mississippi community is outraged after a visiting high school team’s halftime show portrayed students holding a SWAT team at gunpoint. It comes a week after two police officers in the town were killed while on duty.
The shockingly insensitive skit occurred when Forest Hill High School visited Brookhaven High School for a game on Friday night in the US state of Mississippi.
@TomiLahren This photo was reportedly taken at Brookhaven MS High school, as they played Forest Hill tonight. This is a halftime skit. pic.twitter.com/IqumVGZpQr
— Phil Campbell (@PhilCam30960791) October 6, 2018
Images from the show surfacing on social media portray members of Forest Hill’s band dressed up as doctors and nurses while several of them are armed with toy guns.
Other students, dressed as police officers, lie on the ground facing their armed bandmates with their hands up.
While discussions in the US around guns in high schools and many shootings are polarizing topics at the best of times, residents of Brookhaven were especially outraged as the skit comes just days after the funerals of two police officers recently killed in the line of duty.
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Photos from the halftime show have been shared thousands of times on social media sites like Facebook, with thousands more expressing their shock and disgust at the stunt without any apparent desire for context.
Every Student Needs To Be EXPELLED & The Band Director & Any Teachers Involved Should Be FIRED! THIS IS BEYOND DISGUSTING & CAN'T BE TOLERATED EVER!!!!!!!Community outraged over Forest Hill’s “insensitive” band performance at Brookhaven High School https://t.co/z4pmwSZV5F
— Milt Harris (@Harris9Milt) October 6, 2018
Seriously, what the heck? The students who did this should be expelled, and all teachers involved should be fired! https://t.co/f6El6wxEw4
— Mary Keyser (@Lugiagirl221) October 6, 2018
I’m sure @Blklivesmatter and @WeAreSoze are applauding this. It’s stuff like this that just reinforces my support for @bluelivesmtrhttps://t.co/2O69nAD2J4
— William Bobalink (@WBobalink) October 6, 2018
‼️‼️‼️😡😡😡 Absolutely disgusting!! Everyone involved should be immediately FIRED! 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇 https://t.co/AatYgugPvl
— M Oli (@mom2gbd) October 6, 2018
@JPSDistrict I could not be more disgusted or disappointed in this “performance”. You owe the community an apology, and all admin and band staff should be fired. https://t.co/P5NY0fFWUj. What are you teaching those children! #policelivesmatter#insensitive
— SJY (@LilBit500) October 6, 2018
Other, more level-headed observers have noted that the gaffe was probably more of an insensitive coincidence rather than an intentional mocking of a community.
Very poor taste. However the show like most shows performed by schools on the state have been put in place since summer. Schools don't do a different show every week. They do the same show throughout trying to get ready for band competitions. The band director should have left
— the white denzel (@statefan5024) October 6, 2018
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