Several Susquehanna athletes including some football players were kicked off their teams this week as punishment for participating in a raunchy Harlem Shake video.
The video was posted to YouTube this week and it features 11 student-athletes from the Pennsylvania college working out in a weight room. The participants are seen doing typical weight lifting activities for the first half of the video before cutting loose and getting funky for the final 15 seconds of the short clip.
Though the video seems like it was done in clean fun, four of the athletes are paired into couples and simulate sex acts for the second half of the video. That is the part that upset the school, leading to punishment.
“Earlier this week, a video involving 11 student-athletes simulating sex acts in the university’s weight room was produced and publicly posted. We met with the student-athletes involved and removed them from their intercollegiate athletics teams. At the same time, the students were given a plan of action outlining the pathway to reinstatement to their teams,” a school spokesperson said a statement sent to Larry Brown Sports.
“Susquehanna University promotes a culture of respect and personal responsibility. Participation in intercollegiate athletics is a great privilege. The student-athlete handbook calls upon student-athletes to be exemplary role models by demonstrating respect for others and acting in a first-class manner.
“We are disappointed by this behavior and the way in which these student-athletes represented our teams and the university. We hope that they learn from this experience, and that they will earn their way back to representing Susquehanna as members of their teams.”
Harlem shake videos have become the latest trend on the Internet. The fad was inspired by a video uploaded to YouTube late last month which inspired many replica versions. You can read the entire backstory on the Harlem Shake at Know Your Meme.
Many people felt that kicking the athletes off their teams was excessive punishment for participating in the video but, as the school said, the participants have the potential to get reinstated. We can think of many worse things players have done to get kicked off a team.
Helmet smack to Dr. Saturday
