{"id":103384,"date":"2016-04-28T13:08:41","date_gmt":"2016-04-28T13:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2016\/04\/28\/shatterstag-gaymergirls-basedheisenberg\/"},"modified":"2018-09-02T09:54:25","modified_gmt":"2018-09-02T09:54:25","slug":"shatterstag-gaymergirls-basedheisenberg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2016\/04\/28\/shatterstag-gaymergirls-basedheisenberg\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-103384 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2016\/04\/28\/shatterstag-gaymergirls-basedheisenberg\/attachment\/103385\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/tumblr_mq1sdagtBQ1qzigjno1_500-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/tumblr_mq1sdagtBQ1qzigjno1_500-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/tumblr_mq1sdagtBQ1qzigjno1_500-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"100vw\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p><a class=\"tumblr_blog\" href=\"http:\/\/shatterstag.tumblr.com\/post\/143307001261\" target=\"_blank\">shatterstag<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a class=\"tumblr_blog\" href=\"http:\/\/gaymergirls.tumblr.com\/post\/143280069476\" target=\"_blank\">gaymergirls<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a class=\"tumblr_blog\" href=\"http:\/\/basedheisenberg.tumblr.com\/post\/78399510791\" target=\"_blank\">basedheisenberg<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Real recognizes real.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>I finally got curious and decided to google this story, and the headline is just the tip of the iceberg.\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Let it never be said again that journalism is a humorless business.<\/p>\n<p>Covering an odd tale about a 14-year-old autistic boy who was handcuffed by police and suspended for running down the sidelines of a high school football game at halftime wearing a banana costume, Washington, D.C. reporter Pat Collins donned a grape suit and went out to get his story.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to Bryan Thompson, who pulled the prank on Sept. 14 and found himself at the center of a controversy over the school\u2019s response, Collins\u2019 sarcastic outrage seemed palpable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSchool officials accused him of being disruptive and disrespectful,\u201d Collins said. \u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t see what all the fuss is about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He asked the student: \u201cWhy a banana? Why not a \u2026 grape?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Thompson replied. \u201cPotassium is great.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Following the prank, Colonial Forge High School Principal Karen Spillman suspended Thompson for 10 days, and even recommended that he be kicked out of school for the entire year.<\/p>\n<p>Shortly thereafter, Thompson had composed <a href=\"http:\/\/t.umblr.com\/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fleonknight%2Ffree-banana-man&amp;t=YTkwMWNmM2Q5MDgyYWQyODgyZjZjMThjOWMxYjdlODA0NzNkNmExZSxwblFzbDk1RQ%3D%3D\" target=\"_blank\">his own rap song<\/a> about the incident (called \u201cFree Banana Man!\u201d), set up <a href=\"http:\/\/t.umblr.com\/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpages%2FBanana-Man%2F152232774866811&amp;t=MGYwZjkwODE0NDMyNmY3ZjUzN2MxMWJmOWRjZjkwZDVhYWJlZTUxMSxwblFzbDk1RQ%3D%3D\" target=\"_blank\">a Facebook page<\/a> dedicated to \u201cBanana Man,\u201d and someone even launched <a href=\"http:\/\/t.umblr.com\/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thepetitionsite.com%2F1%2Ffree-banana-man%2F&amp;t=ZjMzNzM1Yjk1YzJmODcwODhiM2ZkYzZjOTY5MzFjYjVhNzRlNGIyMyxwblFzbDk1RQ%3D%3D\" target=\"_blank\">a petition<\/a> calling for his suspension to be lifted.<\/p>\n<p>Thompson\u2019s outrage at the punishment was shared by his fellow students, who began creating yellow t-shirts that read, \u201cFree Banana Man!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So the school did what schools so often do when their authority is challenged: they banned the shirts, began confiscating them, and sent students to detention for supporting their classmate.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s when <a href=\"http:\/\/t.umblr.com\/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fblogs%2Fpost_now%2Fpost%2Faclu-backs-stafford-students-in-free-banana-man-t-shirts%2F2011%2F09%2F23%2FgIQAqSz8pK_blog.html&amp;t=YWViYTUxN2NlMjc5ZWMxNzhhZjVmNjEwMjRjM2QzYTRiZDlhZWJmMyxwblFzbDk1RQ%3D%3D\" target=\"_blank\">the American Civil Liberties Union got involved<\/a>, telling the principal that her actions were unconstitutional.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut when you think about it, you might see [the school\u2019s] point,\u201d Collins jokingly concluded. \u201cIt starts with a banana. Then, all of the sudden, you have an apple, and an orange, and maybe a grape! And before you know it, you have fruit salad in the schools! We can\u2019t have that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The school\u2019s principal was ultimately forced to resign, and Thompson has since returned to his studies. [<a href=\"http:\/\/t.umblr.com\/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rawstory.com%2F2011%2F11%2Freporter-dresses-as-grapes-to-defend-boy-suspended-for-banana-suit%2F&amp;t=NGJjMGM4NmJiYzEwOWY3NGNiYzMwNWY1MjYzYTlkMDgyYjU2MGU2NSxwblFzbDk1RQ%3D%3D\" target=\"_blank\">x<\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>NICE<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>shatterstag: gaymergirls: basedheisenberg: Real recognizes real. I finally got curious and decided to google this story, and the headline is just the tip of the iceberg.\u00a0 Let it never be said again that journalism is a humorless business. Covering an odd tale about a 14-year-old autistic boy who was handcuffed by police and suspended for &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2016\/04\/28\/shatterstag-gaymergirls-basedheisenberg\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103384"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103384"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103386,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103384\/revisions\/103386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}