COVINGTON, Ga. — A 15-second video shared on the popular social networking platform TikTok got some Alcovy High School cheer coaches and cheerleaders fined and banned from the sidelines for the next two football games.
Alcovy administrators have imposed a two-game suspension on the football team's cheerleading squad after they participated in a video posted on TikTok that the school leaders say included inappropriate music.
The 15-second video placed on the popular video-sharing platform included at least one coach and some cheerleaders appearing to lip-sync the words "B----h! Third world," which is the chorus to the song "3rd World Free Boski Turnt Up" by Lil Blood that is among trending songs for TikTok videos.
School system spokeswoman Sherrie Partee said Friday, Oct. 1, the coach and cheerleaders will not be on the sidelines for football games on Oct. 8 at Colquitt County High School near Moultrie, and Oct. 15 against Grovetown at Sharp Stadium in Covington.
The squad also is facing an unspecified fine from the Georgia High School Association, Partee said.
However, the head coach is a teacher at the school and still must lead classes, and the students must attend class as usual, because they are only suspended from cheerleading activities, Partee said.
A GHSA coaches directory for 2021-22 lists Ashley Richardson as the head cheerleading coach. Adryenne Durden also is listed as a coach.
Both appeared in the video along with some members of the cheer squad, according to a source.
Alcovy Principal Kristopher Williams said in a statement he has "expressed to the coach my disappointment with this video.”
“It most definitely did not reflect the values of our school community and I know the coach and team have learned a valuable lesson. They will miss two games and face a fine from the GHSA," he said.
"I encourage all of our students and staff to learn from this incident and be mindful of what they place on social media,” Williams said.
TikTok is a video-sharing platform that hosts homemade, short-form videos ranging from 15 seconds to one minute each.
The platform "revolves around sharing 15-second videoclips, which are set to music often licensed from artists and record labels," according to a report in the magazine Wired.
"TikToks can be up to 15 seconds long, but users can also connect multiple clips together for up to 60 seconds of total recording."
It also has become infamous in recent months for its mostly young users creating "challenges" in some videos that encourage potentially dangerous stunts like climbing on stacked milk crates, and costly and illegal actions such as vandalizing and damaging school restrooms.
The incident is the second in recent weeks in which Alcovy administrators have disciplined a faculty member because of an action caught on video and uploaded.
Regional and national news outlets reported in early September about a short video that featured a white teacher using the n-word while talking to a group of students in an Alcovy classroom earlier this year. The teacher later was suspended.
