A high school principal in Houston, Texas, is apologizing to students after comments he made during the school's '90s throwback party. KRPC 2 reports students captured Oak Ridge High School Principal Anthony LiVecchi making disparaging remarks toward the teenagers' appearance.
“It’s embarrassing. It’s frustrating. You got people taking pictures (and) posing like they’re Dr. Dre from the '90s. Doesn’t make our school look good," LiVecchi said.
Dr. Dre, a Grammy Award-winning producer, was recently announced to perform at this year's SuperBowl Halftime show alongside major acts including Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Snoop Dogg and others.
The comments quickly led to some backlash, as several students expressed how upset they were over the comparison.
“(It’s) kind of downplaying on the way my mom and dad dressed when they were in school,” senior Nekia Baker told the outlet.
“The analogy of comparing us to Dr. Dre was used to bring us down and to degrade the way we were dressing and to degrade our school spirit and our '90s day,” junior Nia Dixon shared.
Another student named Trinidad Robinson, who's set track records for the school, said he was confused when LiVecchi told him and his friends that they looked like criminals.
Roughly 100 students, along with their parents and activist Quanell X, gathered for a meeting with school officials on Monday to address the controversial issue. LiVecchi apologized after the meeting while the crowd was still gathered.
"I love you all. That’s not how you need to be treated. It won’t happen again,” LiVecchi said in a recorded cell phone video.
Several young scholars shared that the issue is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to racial problems at the school. Students told KRPC 2 that there were other students who made racist comments as well as terrorist threats in person and online via social media. The outlet reports law enforcement is looking into the threats.
According to tweets, LiVecchi became the school's principal after being named the head of Oak Ridge High School on April 16, 2019.
