Twerking Video Seniors Will Fight To Attend Prom, Graduation

Seven twerking video Scripps Ranch High School seniors who have been suspended for their role in the production of the controversial video will fight for their right to attend their senior prom and graduation.

As The Inquisitr’s Jennifer Deutschmann reported yesterday, 33 students were suspended at Scripps Ranch High School in San Diego, California after student videographer Lyston McNear produced the film. The 17-year-old said that he put a lot of time and thought into the concept ultimately produced by the students in the media class.

Twerking is the booty-snapping dance craze widely popularized by 20-year-old pop phenom Miley Cyrus, who is famously proud of her “slim waist with a BIG behind.”

At least 28 of the suspended students were girls, mostly dancers in the video. They were told not to return to school until today.

The video in question may have been created some time ago, but the San Diego Unified school board members apparently only found time to be outraged when it leaked into the wilds of You Tube. Once the footage was uploaded to the video host in late April, the school board quickly reacted.

According to a report from a local San Diego news source, officials apparently believed that girls twerking while performing handstands was completely over-the-top — “inappropriate in an educational setting.”

An unnamed official, who said he can’t speak about confidential school board matters on the record, told U-T San Diego that the video would have likely been considered OK if the girls had been twerking on their feet.

Say what?

Six or seven (reports vary) of the suspended students are seniors. Under the school’s zero tolerance policy, they will be denied the right to attend their senior prom or graduation unless they can make their case in front of a senior review board.

The school district has stated that the video was made with school property. Well, sure it was, folks. Hello, it was a media class. They don’t give assignments to the students and expect them to use crayons and Etch-A-Sketch.

And, yes, the controversial dance scene was filmed outside but, again, if you expect me to believe that every single other video filmed by a media class was done only in the classroom…well…tell me another, because I’m not buying that one.

I’m not going to make any secret of the fact that I think the punishment is ridiculous and out of proportion for the supposed crime.

The American Civil Liberties Union thinks so too. An ACLU policy officer, Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, said that the response was “unreasonable, overly harsh, and counterproductive.”

What’s your take on the twerking video uproar?

[Miley Cyrus photo by s_bukley / Shutterstock.com]