14 Lifeguards Rehired After Losing Jobs Over 'Gangam Style' Video
Fourteen lifeguards that were fired last month, after making a parody of the "Gangam Style" video and uploading it on YouTube, have been re-hired pending review.
The 14 lifeguards were from a city pool in El Monte, South Carolina. All of them were fired, after making a video spoof using the song "Gangam Style," which has garnered mass Internet fame.
A public petition to have their jobs reinstated began after some of the guards claimed that it was not their choice to make the video.
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"We're doing this because not everyone willing participated in the video and those who didn't actively participate were also fired," Micheal Roa said in a second YouTube video in support of the petition.
Mayor Andre Quintero recommended that the city re-hire the guards pending a review of the Aquatic Center's management and policies and procedures, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Council members approved the decision in 3-2 vote.
The review will include the process through which the 14 guards were fired after a number of accusations were made about the pool's management staff.
A second guard, Juliete Gilek, said that none of the guards meant to "offend" or "disgust" the city of El Monte. She added that the video was made out of fun.
"We love what we do," Gilek offered. "We thought, since we were off the clock, that we weren't going to get in trouble."
Quintero supported his recommendation by stating that the fired guards would likely be unwilling to cooperate with a review if they were no longer being employed by the city.
"If we're serious about getting to the bottom of this situation... having their active participation is critical in this process," he said according to SGV.
"We never thought that it would get taken this far," he said. "But we'd like to thank our supporters for being behind us this whole time."
A number of members from the community stepped up to defend the guards, many of whom are college students.
