Student’s ‘inappropriate’ Trump joke spurs police investigation in North Carolina
A student’s joke about President Donald Trump sparked a police investigation in North Carolina, officials say.
The high schooler made the “inappropriate comments” during an Improv Club acting performance last week, Surry County Schools wrote in a statement.
“The improvisation was not rehearsed, pre-planned, or meant to be taken seriously, however, the joke was in poor taste,” the district said of the skit at North Surry High School in Mount Airy.
The local sheriff’s department is investigating the incident, spokeswoman Tracey Lewis wrote in an email Monday to McClatchy news group.
Capt. Scott Hudson of the Surry County Sheriff’s Office said a “concerned parent” complained to deputies, prompting school resource officers to review the case, according to the Winston-Salem Journal.
Deputies on Monday didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy news group’s request for information.
Though district officials haven’t publicly shared the content of the joke about Trump, they said they were “disappointed” about the incident.
Just after the comment was made, the Improv Club yelled “freeze” to halt the performance, staff sponsor James Moore said in the district’s statement.
“I coach these students about how to be comedic but also engage in appropriate comedy,” Moore said, according to the district. “As a school counselor and sponsor of the club, it is important to me that we use this performance as a teachable moment for all.”
Surry County Schools says it “will take any appropriate disciplinary action” after all information is available.
Mount Airy is near the Virginia border roughly 40 miles northwest of Winston-Salem.
This story was originally published November 18, 2019 at 1:57 PM with the headline "Student’s ‘inappropriate’ Trump joke spurs police investigation in North Carolina."
