Prom season can be one of the happiest (and most stressful) times of a high schooler's life. While we can expect some proverbial bragging about being the best dressed, having the coolest ride or scoring a celebrity date for the evening, these elements can't top the attention of an extreme promposal — and we're not talking about a cute song and dance.

It seems like almost every year, promposals with unacceptable, discriminatory messages make headlines throughout the U.S. From racial slurs to lynching references and even the use of blackface, here are seven of the most inappropriate promposals from recent years.

1. A brazen use of "n***r" 

In May 2019, two students who attend Palos Verdes High School were photographed sharing in a promposal moment that some students called a "vile display of racism." The picture depicted a boy asking for a date to prom with a sign that read, “Bianca You are racist, but I would give anything for you to go with me to prom,” capitalizing and bolding letters throughout in an acrostic that spells out “N****R.”

According to
The New York Post, Allan Tyner, the school’s principal, said that “officials were investigating the matter and the pair would face ‘severe consequences.’”

2. An implication Black people were picking cotton in 2019 

An unnamed Ohio teen from Clear Fork High School was banned from prom after holding up for the below promposal sign.

"If I was Black I'd be picking cotton but I'm white so I'm picking u for prom," the sign said.

The teen reportedly apologized, but he still wasn't allowed to attend prom.

To learn more about this story, click here.

3.  Another seeming confusion about whether slavery was still ongoing 

In April 2018, Noah Crowley, 18, was in hot water after he held up a sign on Snapchat to ask another Riverview High School student to be his prom date.

"If I was black, I’d be picking cotton, but I’m white so I’m picking u 4 Prom?" the promposal poster read.

Sound familiar?

"Anyone who knows me … knows that that’s not how we truly feel. It was a completely [sic] joke and it went too far. After reading the texts and Snapchat’s [sic] I truly see how I have offended people and I’m sorry,” the teen reportedly said in an apology shared via social media.

The Sarasota County School District also said they would work with civil rights groups to develop a roundtable forum to talk about race.

For more on this story, click here.

4.Of course, there had to be Blackface

Back in May of 2017, a student at Los Gatos High School wore blackface during his promposal to allegedly emulate a bitmoji.

"To dress up like my bitmoji, I had no racist intentions. I didn't mock the African American community at any point," the student said in defense of his motives, according to NBC Bay Area.

Local parents weren't too happy about the student’s offensive display.

"I was shocked; I was horrified," parent Pilar Crawford told NBC Bay Area. "But then it also shows me that he doesn't think that's wrong, he doesn't understand, or maybe he does, how black people feel about black face."

Read more about this story here.

5. Making light of lynching 

The bitmoji blackface incident wasn’t the only time a promposal from Los Gatos High School that faced criticism for being racist. 

“Be like a n****r and hang at prom?” another promposal sign said, next to a drawing of someone who was hanged from a tree.

6. Back to the cotton-picking

According to WPLG Local 10 News Florida, two Monarch High School students in Coconut Creek, Florida, were suspended after holding up an inappropriate promposal sign that read, “You may be picking cotton, but we're picking you to go to prom with us."

The parents of the students responsible for this bigoted promposal reportedly apologized on their children's behalf.

For more on this story, click here.

7. Again…

In Minnesota back in September 2017, a Burnsville High School student reportedly asked a Black student to be their homecoming date by sharing a picture on social media of a sign that read, “You may be picking cotton, but I’m picking you. Homecoming?” The message was accented by crudely glued cotton ball decorations. (By the way, she supposedly said "yes.")

Though this wasn’t technically for prom, you get the picture — it’s still the same abysmal idea. In a lengthy post on the local school district’s website, the school's principal claimed that “the posting does not align” with the school's values, and also emphasized the fact that the learning institution “values all students.”

You can learn more about this story here.

Which promposal story do you find the most offensive?

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