Va. Student Forced to Remove 'Duck Dynasty' T-Shirt Deemed 'Threatening' by School
A student at a Southern Virginia high school was asked to remove his T-shirt last week after school officials said it posed a threat because it featured the image of Si Robertson, one of the characters of the hugely popular A&E reality show, "Duck Dynasty," with the slogan, "I will hurt you physically and metaphysically."
The student, Hunter Spain, was asked by Dinwiddie High School administrators to either turn his shirt inside out or go home. However, Spain refused and opted to change his shirt all together because he didn't want to "look stupid in front of all of these young ladies in the school."
"If you are a 'Duck Dynasty' fan you understand the meaning of the shirt," said school superintendent, David Clark, according to Richmond, Va. – based, NBC 12. "But if you haven't watched 'Duck Dynasty' you may question if the shirt implies violence. As a school division, we would like to keep our slogans on student shirts as non-violent as possible."
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Spain's mother assured her son meant no harm by wearing the shirt, and said her family was a fan of the mega hit show and even plan on taking part in the "Duck Dynasty" cruise next summer.
"For this to be considered as a threat to the school, I just couldn't understand it," said Edna-Jo Spain. "Anybody that ever watches 'Duck Dynasty' knows that Si Robertson is famous for his little funny slogans."
The popular show, which features a clan of bearded family members who run a duck call business in Louisiana, are known for displaying their love for God, pranks and humorous antics. However, Robertson, known as uncle Si, is specially known for his one-liners similar to the ones on Hunter's shirt such as, "A redneck walkin' into Bass Pro Shops gets more excited than a 12-year-old girl going to a Justin Beaver concert," and "Your beard is so hairy, even Dora can't explore it."
Edna-Jo added her son's strict grandmother was the one who gave him the controversial T-shirt as a gift.
"[This is] a lady who would not even buy my daughter ripped up jeans to wear to school,' said Edna-Jo. "She viewed that as inappropriate."
However, the school maintained its decision to ban the T-shirt, claiming the slogan's meaning could have been misinterpreted as encouraging violence.
