OSU Cheerleader Kicked Off Team Following Sexual Harassment Scandal

An OSU cheerleader was kicked off his team following a scandal alleging the coaches were regularly sexually harassing cheerleaders.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, a cheerleader with Down Syndrome wasn’t allowed to cheer at games, despite being an honorary member of the squad.

In an interesting twist in this story, the allegations are coming from both female and male cheerleaders. Ohio State confirmed this week that they had fired two coaches, in response to the allegations

One of the cheerleaders, Cody Ellis, now claims he was kicked off the team in retaliation. Ms. Ellis’ lawyer says Cody was subjected to sexual comments from coach Eddie Hollins as well as sexually explicit text messages. Dana Bumbrey has faced allegations of harassment towards the female cheerleaders. Cody Ellis says his harassment begun after it was revealed the student is gay.

Mr. Hollins claims that “it was all just joking between jocks” in a statement that is certainly not a denial. He also admitted that despite the fact he’s faced similar accusation before, he has showered in front of the male cheerleaders. The accusations include allegations that the coaches have slapped male student’s butt, touched them inappropriately and also made comment about the female cheerleaders. It was said that Dana Bumbrey has made numerous inappropriate comments to the female cheerleaders, even going so far as to use the nickname “fornicate” for one of them. He also allegedly commented on the size of the girls’ bottoms, making such comments like “she always has her legs spread” when the girls were practicing or doing typical routines.

In response to the OSU cheerleader scandal, Gary Lewis Jr., spokesman for Ohio State, has released the following statements:

“Ohio State University has no tolerance for this type of behavior. The university conducted a complete and thorough investigation and found that the behaviors of Hollins and Bumbrey were inconsistent with university values and violated university policies.”

Shortly after the coaches were fired, Cody Ellis was permanently suspended from the team. The permanent suspension cites “bad attitude,” but Ellis says it’s clearly retaliation by head coach Lenee Buchman, who was ordered to attend sexual harassment training. The training was ordered because the coach had completely ignored Ellis’ complaints. Ellis’ lawyer made a public statement about the OSU cheerleader being kicked off the team:

“This retaliation by the head coach is despicable, and the university’s unwillingness to protect students who come forward as victims of sexual misconduct is equally abhorrent.”

So what do you think of the OSU cheerleader being kicked off the team?