High School Cheerleaders Under Fire for Staging Mock Executions at Pep Rally

Here's what happened at a Nacogdoches High School pep rally last month:

That was a skit in which a group of cheerleaders (dressed in the colors of rival Center High School) "kidnapped" the Nacogdoches mascot. Then a second group of Nacogdoches cheerleaders came to the rescue of the kidnapped mascot, forced the "rival" cheerleaders to kneel in front of them, and shot them in the heads, execution-style.

Not everyone was amused.

The Daily Sentinel reports that students have circulated a petition protesting "gun promotion" at pep rallies, and two students wrote this for an editorial that administrators would not allow to run in the student newspaper:

We realize it was intended to raise school spirit, but it is inappropriate to allow such a display of excessive violence in a high school. This is not only unacceptable in a school environment, but also from a moral standpoint. This skit did not portray the other team as our opponent in a sports game, but as an enemy.

This skit and all of its implications were approved by an authoritative figure with the power and responsibility to edit the skit.
Such an authority should certainly show more discretion in the future.

Nacogdoches principal Nathan Chaddick, however, called the skit "simple, innocent satire" and said of the mock executions, "everybody enjoyed it and had a good time."

Cheerleader Skit Causes Stir

Nacogdoches (Texas) High School cheerleaders dressed as the Center High School Roughriders enter a gymnasium in a routine that has come under fire from more than 120 students who signed a petition protesting 'gun promotion' in the skit, which shows these purple-clad girls being gunned down after stealing the high school mascot.