A local principal has been suspended after the Paterson, New Jersey school district investigated Fetty Wap’s “Wake Up” music video, NorthJersey.com reports.
Officials were concerned over the drug references in the video, which was shot at Eastside High School. There is also a stripper dancing on a pole inside a classroom in one of the shots. The video was shot after hours and does not feature any students of the school.
The investigation led the school board to place Zatiti Moody on paid administrative leave, Superintendent Donnie Evans announced yesterday (June 1) at a Board of Education meeting.
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Investigators are still looking into who approved the shooting of the video on school property and if proper guidelines were used in making the decision.
Fetty Wap dropped out of Eastside High School as a teenager and says in the opening credits of the video that the visual is meant to inspire the youth to make their own path.
Board member Kenneth Simmons expresses worry that the “Trap Queen” singer is sending the wrong message to students.
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“I don’t want to take anything away from the artist, he’s talented,” he says. “But even though he dropped out and made it, that’s rare. Everybody who drops out doesn’t make it.”
Students who were asked about the video seemed to appreciate the national attention Fetty Wap was bringing to their hometown.
“Fetty Wap is my boy,” Malik Moses, an 18-year-old Eastside student says. “I did notice the drinking of alcohol in the video but it was animated so he didn’t really have it. It’s how he grew up in Paterson. The marijuana and twerking, that’s how it is here. He’s showing that stuff in his videos but he’s not saying go out and do it.”
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“He’s somebody from Paterson who made it. He hasn’t forgotten where he came from, but this is Paterson. Anything goes,” Jezebel DeLosAngeles, a 17-year-old senior says. “Nothing in the video particularly bothered me. I like the music the most.”
TMZ says that Fetty Wap was frustrated at the investigation and reiterates that he was encouraging students to get high off their own success, not off drug use.
Another rap video caught heat when Yo Gotti filmed his video for “Law” inside a Georgia County Courthouse. Officials claimed that the profanity and references to alcohol did not reflect the values of the district.
